Reflecting on COP 30 with Jennifer Morgan and Marian Feist

On 10 December 2025, the Centre for Sustainability had the pleasure of hosting former State Secretary and Hertie School Fellow Jennifer Morgan and Senior Research Fellow Marian Feist for an event to reflect on the recent UN climate summit in Brazil.

Marian Feist began by contextualising COP 30 and providing an overview of the most important themes of the summit. This year’s COP took place in Brazil, the first non-authoritarian host in four years, allowing civil society to play a more visible role. It also took place after the 2025 deadline for countries to submit their updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). For Feist, this was therefore a moment to evaluate the effectiveness of the mechanism.  

Feist noted that COP 30 had been envisioned as an “implementation” COP, and he described the most relevant topics of discussion at the conference and in its context. These included the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, a potential fossil fuel phaseout roadmap, and the Global Goal on Adaptation. He also highlighted the key outcomes in the Global Mutirão document, notably the commitment to triple adaptation finance by 2035, and to redouble and support efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. An agreement on a fossil fuel phaseout roadmap, however, was not achieved.  

In her input, Jennifer Morgan commented on the geopolitical context of the COP and looked in detail into the question of a fossil fuel phaseout roadmap. With the United States absent, there was much anticipation regarding China’s role at the conference. Morgan considered this to be an “inclusive” COP, where the BRICS countries played a more prominent role. Notably, COP 30 coincided with the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement. Morgan acknowledged progress made to date on the targets set forth in the Agreement but stressed the need for additional action.

Morgan recognised Brazil’s Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, as a driving force in putting the idea of a fossil fuel phaseout roadmap on the COP 30 agenda, noting that many countries supported the idea during the first week of the conference. While China and India showed openness to discussing pathways for a just transition, there was ultimately not enough political support to include a roadmap in the final text. The debate, however, has had a meaningful impact, as Brazil and Norway declared their commitment to developing their own roadmaps. In Morgan’s view, the fossil fuel phaseout roadmap is “not a document, but a process”, and the big emitters need to be brought into an evidence-based conversation for an effective phaseout.