Centering lived realities in the push for climate justice
It’s been challenging to pinpoint where my reflections on COP30 should begin. Held in Belém, Brazil, this year’s climate summit was a pivotal moment for justice movements – one where frontline, Indigenous, women and youth voices pushed urgently for action grounded in lived experience. For KAIROS, convening a global, women-led delegation across COP30 and the People’s Summit meant engaging in negotiations in the Blue Zone (the UN venue where negotiations occur) and civil society spaces on just transition, climate finance and debt justice. This reflection gathers what stayed with me – and why these outcomes matter for the work ahead.
KAIROS’ approach to climate justice is rooted in ecological justice, gender justice, Indigenous rights and solidarity across borders. These principles guided our advocacy in every hallway, negotiation and panel. Just transition, climate finance and debt justice are not only technical and financial issues; they are justice issues that determine whose lives are protected and whose voices shape the future. Throughout COP30, our partners from the Global South, including Organización Femenina Popular (OFP) in Colombia and la Red Latinoamericana de Mujeres Defensoras de Derechos Sociales y Ambientales (La Red) reminded us that climate policy must be anchored in realities already unfolding in impacted communities.
One moment that continues to echo in my mind came during a November 12 panel where Joy Reyes, a climate justice lawyer from the Philippines said, “I fear the sound of rain.” This simple statement held the weight of typhoons, displacement and a lifetime of climate trauma.
Later that week, I carried her words with me into a panel with Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Julie Dabrusin, emphasizing that our work must remain grounded in these lived experiences – not abstract negotiations. I’m grateful to Willo Prince, Janelle Lapointe and others who, on the same panel, spoke to the realities that Indigenous communities face along the Highway of Tears in British Columbia, and to the ongoing harms of fossil fuel extraction and climate impacts. Centering these voices – Indigenous and Global South – felt essential in every space we entered.
In the negotiations, COP30 delivered some progress on the UNFCCC Just Transition Work Programme, including stronger recognition of human rights, gender justice and Indigenous leadership. We saw improved language on social protection, labour rights and the value of care work. But gaps remain: commitments are still non-binding, financing remains uncertain and corporate and market-driven solutions continue to dominate. About this progress, CAN-Rac notes, “This outcome did not happen by accident. This is the result of the hard-fought struggles and collective power of trade unions, communities, social movements, Indigenous Peoples’ organizations and civil society over many years.”
On climate finance, the outcomes were bleaker. Negotiators inched forward on the New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance, which calls for mobilizing at least $1.3 trillion per year by 2035, with a floor of $300 billion annually from developed countries by the same year. However, the scale of need continues to far outstrip developed countries’ pledges. An agreement to at least triple global adaptation finance by 2035 was a helpful step but does nothing to respond to urgent and immediate adaptation needs now. Similarly, there is a startling financial shortfall in the operationalization of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, established at COP27. Civil society – including KAIROS – called on Canada to show true leadership grounded in public, grant-based financing, not loans or reliance on carbon markets.
Debt justice also emerged as an essential thread. Many Global South countries cannot invest in climate resilience while trapped under unsustainable debt burdens. Through panels, actions and coalition spaces, KAIROS carried forward the Jubilee message: cancelling unjust and unsustainable debt, advancing climate reparations and reforming the global financial architecture. There is growing recognition that a just transition is not possible within a cycle of debt-driven austerity.
My final day in the Blue Zone crystallized these reflections. As negotiators intensified their Week 2 efforts, heavy rain erupted, battering the temporary structures. Consultations on loss and damage were delayed because the downpour was too loud for delegates to hear one another. Outside, barricades had toppled in the wind. The irony was impossible to ignore. The climate crisis was literally drowning us out.
KAIROS’ presence at COP30 affirmed the power of women-led leadership, global solidarity and faith-rooted advocacy. The outcomes may be incomplete, but the momentum is real. The announcement from the governments of Colombia and the Netherlands to co-host the first International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels is a foundation for that momentum. We return home committed to pushing Canada and the global community toward justice-rooted transitions.
For further analysis on COP30 outcomes:
- ACT Alliance: Press Release: COP30 Outcomes Analysis by ACT Alliance
- Indigenous Climate Action: There is No “Indigenous COP” Without Affirming the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Across All COP30 Decisions
By Beth Lorimer, KAIROS Ecological Justice Program Coordinator
