Press Release
COP30 Concludes with Essential Progress to Limit Climate Action
Small Island Developing States welcome the climate agreement as “imperfect, but necessary for progress”, as countries agree on milestone Just Transition Work Programme
Belem, Brazil: Saturday 22nd November, 2025
The 39 states of the Alliance of Small Island States have stayed the course at the United Nations climate change summit, COP30, and have played a key role in securing an outcome aimed at limiting the 1.5°C overshoot, providing a fair and inclusive pathway for countries to embrace a green transition, and enhancing finance for adaptation to climate change impacts.
AOSIS particularly welcomes the adoption of the Just Transition Work Program, which our group has worked tirelessly towards for the past two years. For small island developing states (SIDS), this means supporting equitable, inclusive pathways that are 1.5-aligned and empower workers and vulnerable communities.
AOSIS notes the COP30 outcome is not perfect, particularly on issues such as Adaptation, but there is opportunity to advance progress – an opportunity which AOSIS will firmly seize.
AOSIS entered this COP with a proposal to create an annual process that would respond to the NDC synthesis report, which would address the ambition and implementation gaps and help accelerate action in this critical decade. We remain convinced that this would have been a strong outcome that could help safeguard 1.5ºC. However, in the spirit of mutirão, we have built a collective outcome which we hope all will work collaboratively on.
Ultimately, this is the push and pull of multilateralism. The opportunity for all countries to be heard and to listen to each other’s perspectives, to collaborate, build bridges, and reach common ground.
AOSIS expresses our appreciation to all countries which have helped us forge progress here, amidst a difficult geopolitical context. There can be no doubt that we collectively must do much more to achieve our Paris Agreement temperature goal of 1.5°C. We will continue to work tirelessly with all Parties to drive climate ambition and action and to ensure a safe and prosperous future for our islands.
