As officials gather in the Brazilian city of Belem for the Cop30 UN climate change conference, which starts on Monday, global efforts to limit carbon emissions face major headwinds.

The 2015 Paris Agreement's aim of limiting global temperature rises to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is close to being breached, while the US is exiting the treaty and dozens of nations have failed to update pledges on cutting emissions.

Cop30 is, however, set to bring the launch of a fund to help protect forests, and is expected to have a renewed focus on adapting to climate change.

Britain's Prince William, left, and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer visit a museum in Belem, Brazil, before the Cop30 summit. PA

A disputed choice?

Situated at the mouth of the Amazon, Belem has been a disputed choice as the host city, with concerns raised about sections of rainforest being felled before the summit so that a road could be built. The limited availability of accommodation in the city for the more than 50,000 attendees expected has also been a concern.

Ahead of Cop30, a majority of nations failed to provide new nationally determined contributions (NDCs) – commitments on how they will take action on emissions – by the September deadline, highlighting the difficulty in achieving progress to limit climate change.

The lack of enthusiasm seems palpable, given the September deadline itself was a revised extension from the previous February cut-off. Hosts Brazil and the UAE laid out robust NDCs before the initial February deadline while many others held their breath.

Concern has been raised about sections of rainforest being felled before the Cop30 summit so that a road can be built. Reuters

“The hope was that countries would come with enhanced ambition on mitigation, on emissions reductions, to this Cop,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, a senior fellow at the Asia Policy Institute and a co-founder of the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

“That expectation isn’t being realised, so now it’s much more about where to go from here, basically recognising that this round of emissions targets is not delivering anything close to the Paris Agreement goals and that there needs to be a reckoning.

“That means that on the mitigation side it’s going to be challenging to make significant progress.