The Baku to Belém Roadmap report, published recently by the COP30 presidency, proposes ‘‘5 action fronts’’ to accelerate the provision of finance to drive climate action in poor, climate-vulnerable developing nations. In this piece, Power Shift Africa assesses the 5 action fronts and their relevance to the mobilisation of resources. 

At its core, the disagreement is not just about indicators, but the politics of responsibility. The African Group and other developing country blocs argue that adaptation tracking should not become a backdoor means of shifting obligations or imposing new compliance burdens on those least responsible for the climate crisis.

To omit finance from adaptation indicators is to deny the debt owed by those who built their prosperity on centuries of unchecked emissions, and it is to treat adaptation as optional when, for millions, it is existential.

The Baku to Belém Roadmap to US$1.3 trillion was supposed to be the missing link between aspiration and accountability, but as COP30 gets underway, there is a palpable sense that the roadmap to the NCQG is fading from focus. 

The EU’s CBAM claims to fight climate change by pricing carbon at the border, but for Africa, it looks less like climate cooperation and more like economic coercion dressed in green.

The 2025 deadline for developed countries to fulfil the Glasgow pledge to double international public adaptation finance from 2019 levels is on track to become another broken promise. 

Here’s what you need to know before landing in Belém for the biggest climate gathering of the year.