HIC at COP30: Climate Justice, Right to the City, and Community Action from the Amazon

Report written by Facundo Di Filippo, Latin America Representative on the HIC Council

COP30, held in Belém do Pará, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, once again highlighted the deep contradictions of the mega-events organized by the United Nations. In this tense scenario, the International Habitat Coalition (HIC) promoted and participated in multiple spaces for debate and advocacy, both within the so-called Blue Zone —reserved for official delegations, specialists, and intergovernmental negotiations— and at the Peoples’ Summit and other spaces organized by civil society.

HIC opened spaces for exchange with diverse actors to discuss the planetary emergency we are experiencing, the insufficient response of the international community to the magnitude of the environmental disaster, and the concrete contributions already being made by peoples, neighborhoods, and social organizations to confront climate change intensified by the current model of misdevelopment.

As stated by the Global Platform for the Right to the City, one of HIC’s closest allied organizations, “there is no climate justice without the right to the city,” nor social justice without environmental justice. There is no real separation between nature and the city: urban disputes are essentially environmental, and the impacts of extractive models —urban, peri-urban, and rural— affect all of humanity. Thinking about a dignified habitat requires assuming the cross-cutting nature of human rights and building sustainable responses to environmental impacts that disproportionately affect the most vulnerable populations.

Brazil and the Peoples’ Summit: territories, resistances, and hopes

Brazil was a particularly significant setting to contextualize the global environmental crisis. After several COPs held in countries with limited democratic freedoms and high pollution levels —mainly in the Global South— COP30 took place in a diverse and supportive country, with a population that recently managed to halt the advance of new authoritarian right-wing forces threatening life and rights.

In this context, the Peoples’ Summit brought together thousands of activists from around the world, creating a vibrant space for debates, challenges, and collective dreams in the heart of the “lungs of the planet.” Indigenous peoples, urban and rural communities participated, with central discussions on care agendas, childhood, feminist struggles, climate justice, and environmental racism, all framed by the Rights of Nature and Buen Vivir.

Notable was the participation of Massa Koné, representative of social movements on the HIC Council, who, together with an African delegation, developed an extensive agenda to invite social movements to the next World Social Forum, to be held in Benin at the end of 2026.

Progress, limits, and challenges of COP30

COP30 showed partial progress and mixed results. Positive outcomes include:

• The agreement to develop the Belém Action Mechanism (BAM) for a Just Transition.

• The approval of 59 adaptation indicators under the Global Adaptation Goals (GAGs).

• The explicit mention, for the first time, of people of African descent in the final texts of a COP, including the Just Transition, the Gender Action Plan, and the Global Adaptation Goal, representing progress for the climate justice agenda.

However, these advances have significant limitations. For a more detailed analysis, see the report prepared by the Global Platform for the Right to the City, which structured active and strategic participation in COP30, achieving relevant results in political advocacy, knowledge production, and stakeholder coordination.

Two major challenges remain: securing climate finance for losses, damages, and adaptation for community-based initiatives, and strengthening climate action with effective community participation in mitigation and adaptation plans and in the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), incorporating traditional and community knowledge, as HIC has promoted through experiences in Latin America.

Regarding cities, COP30 gave significant visibility to urban planning as a key area for climate action. The Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change, co-organized by UN-Habitat and Brazil’s Ministry of Cities, recognized this role; however, the final document did not present substantive advances on the role of cities.

The most concerning aspect was the lack of real progress toward a transition away from fossil fuels, blocked by the lack of commitment from several global powers.

HIC’s participation at COP30 and the Peoples’ Summit

HIC had active and diverse participation, including in the following spaces:

• Urban Plenary at the NGO House, with participation from UN-Habitat Executive Director Anacláudia Rossbach. Greeting on behalf of HIC delivered by Facundo Di Filippo.

• COP Side Event, co-organized with Instituto Pólis, WIEGO, YUVA, Misereor, and Mahila Housing Trust, on community initiatives and climate justice within the IPCC framework. HIC presented 18 Latin American experiences systematized by HIC-AL. Areli Sandoval participated.

• Panel on the relevance of the New Urban Agenda in addressing climate change, with participation from Elkin Velázquez (UN-Habitat) and Facundo Di Filippo.

• Panel “Housing Justice and Climate Change”, with participation from Irene Escorihuela.

• At the Peoples’ Summit, HIC participated in the opening of the “Liveable Cities and Just Peripheries” axis, with over 400 urban activists.

• Various panels on the right to the city, climate finance, participatory governance, and adaptation indicators.

The most inspiring moment was the Global March for Climate Action, which brought together nearly 70,000 activists and ended near the COP venue. HIC members from Brazil, India, Mali, Spain, Mexico, and Argentina participated.

Looking Ahead

In a few months, the 13th World Urban Forum will be held, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of UN-Habitat and the International Habitat Coalition, as well as the 10th anniversary of the New Urban Agenda. Within this framework, climate justice, the right to the city, and community action will continue to be central axes of HIC’s political and collective work.