Negotiators are working late into the night to clinch a deal on Brazil's vaunted "Mutirão text" encompassing the most hard-contested issues at COP30. Photo: UNFCCC
Day 8: 18 NOVEMBER 2025
Early this morning Brazil published the draft text of the first of its proposed Belem Packages, also referred to as the "Mutirão text", dealing with the four most contentious agenda items:
- Implementation of Article 9, paragraph 1, of the Paris Agreement
- Promoting international cooperation and addressing the concerns with climate change related trade-restrictive unilateral measures
- Responding to the synthesis report on nationally determined contributions and addressing the 1.5 °C ambition and implementation gap
- Reporting and review pursuant to Article 13 of the Paris Agreement: Synthesis of biennial transparency reports
As we reported yesterday, Brazil is hoping that by issuing a draft final text so early and by "fire-walling" these most difficult issues at COP30 in a separate package, Parties may be persuaded to agree on a text by Wednesday before moving on to the rest of the agenda in a second Belem Package.
COP30 has been characterised by a ramping up of pressure on the use of fossil fuels. At the outset of this meeting, Brazil called for countries to come together to create a roadmap for a fossil fuel phase-out, but despite the lack of clear references to oil, gas and coal in the various texts, the issue has not gone away.
The first version of the Mutirão text contains references to fossil fuel subsidies and to transitioning away from fossil fuels, but these are options rather than agreed formulas.
To further turn up the heat, an impressive roster of Parties, led by the Marshall Islands and flanked by ministers from Germany, Colombia, the UK, Kenya and Sierra Leone, issued the Mutirão Call for a Fossil Fuel Roadmap, which has garnered a total of 82 supporting Parties so far.
“The best chance of landing an agreement at this COP is in the Mutirão package,” Tina Stege of the Marshal Islands told a press event. “The current reference in the text is weak and is presented as an option - it must be strengthened and it must be adopted."
Consultations on the Mutirão text continued through the day, there are parts with different options, we have a general assessment on the options and interlinked issues trade and NDCs that are in other texts that we'll have to tackle in a comprehensive way, A lot of talk about finance for adaptation
The Presidency has asked Parties to reach compromises on the Mutirão text and other elements by 7pm, and a new text will be issued in time.
Brazil's president Lula will fly in to Belem tomorrow and meet with some delegations in an effort to unlock an agreement on key issues.
In an evening press conference, senior officials from the Brazilian Presidency reflected on the surprise that their Tuesday morning text generated among delegations: "Many delegations were surprised to have such texts in so short a time; normally, drafts like this only appear at the very end of the conference."
"If we get the Mutirão decision for tomorrow, it means that we'll get the other decisions as well, and if it's not possible we still have more time to get the package, the entire package of decisions."
But they conceded that the text on the roadmap for a fossil fuel phase out was a sticking point. "A great majority of the groups that we heard [from said] that this is a red line for them, either because some of the groups don't want that type of language, or because other groups don't want any more obligations
In the negotiations
Late on Saturday, the Secretariat published new draft negotiating texts for Article 6.2 and Article 6.4, giving the lie to the notion that Sunday was a day off at COP.
Equally, an Article 6.8 text was produced late on Monday that does not have the whole draft in brackets, which may means some forward momentum has been achieved.
Unfortunately, we don't have a report from the negotiations for you today as delegates were meeting into the night on both tracks of the talks and the discussions had not broken up by the time we closed down for the day.
We'll bring you the fullest update possible tomorrow!
Pedro Venzon and Agustina Cundari presented at our official COP30 side event, co-hosted with FICCI and IATA. The topic was how Article 6 and CORSIA are shaping the future of carbon markets, and featured contributions from Abra Group, Coralia Environmental, ICAO and TruAlt Bioenergy. Photo: IETA
Pedro Venzon led IETA's UNFCCC Official side event on Global Frameworks for Carbon Markets, organised by the Government of Singapore.
Pedro highlighted the motivation behind IETA's updated Guidelines for High Integrity Use of Verified Carbon Credits, stressing the need to restore business confidence and revive high-integrity demand at a time when voluntary retirements have stagnated and companies face uncertainty across divergent frameworks.
We emphasized that carbon markets remain essential for businesses to advance internal decarbonisation, balance residual emissions, and drive innovation, and that the guidelines offer practical, Paris-aligned use cases to help companies integrate VCCs alongside internal efforts.
The intervention underscored the importance of greater convergence among global frameworks and called for governments to develop clear demand-side integrity rules — defining the role of credits, credible claims, and guardrails — to ensure consistency, transparency, and the scale of investment needed across voluntary, compliance, and Article 6 markets.
Elisa Guida took part in a panel at the Brazil Pavilion on the macroeconomic and social impacts of Brazil’s new NDC. She presented a study developed by IETA’s Brazil team in collaboration with eos consulting, launched at COP on November 11 and available on IETA’s website. The analysis quantifies the economic and socio-environmental implications of different pathways for Brazil to meet its NDC, considering the SBCE, the voluntary carbon market, and Article 6.
And Agustina Cundari participated in an event at the Turkish Pavilion on “Compliance markets and Article 6: Evolving National and International Approaches”, which examined how countries are advancing carbon pricing and market mechanisms to support effective climate action. The session highlighted Türkiye’s work on its national ETS, Singapore’s carbon tax, and Article 6.
Shao Hua, senior manager at the National Climate Change Secretariat, of Singapore, shared his country's experience in implementing a carbon tax and structuring cooperative approaches. Ugur Gruel (Article 6 negotiator for Türkiye) explained how Türkiye’s forthcoming ETS and Article 6 framework are being designed to align with national climate objectives.
Agustina brought in the international and private-sector perspective, emphasising that credible, transparent, and practical carbon pricing frameworks — across compliance markets, Article 6 cooperation and voluntary markets — are essential to build trust and unlock private investment in real, measurable emissions reductions. She underscored the importance of clear rules, predictability, and robust accounting for the private sector.
IETA held an invitation-only VCM roundtable meeting on Tuesday in which participants discussed the challenges and opportunities facing the market in Latin America and worldwide. Photo: IETA
All event times are listed in Brasilia time (BRT), which is three hours behind GMT and 11 hours behind Singapore time.
The IETA/ICC Business Hub is located in Pavilion D145 (see image below). It's in area D of the Delegation Pavilions hall, quite close to the main entrance, and our neighbours are Colombia, the World Meteorological Organisation, Saudi Green Buildings Forum and the Oceans pavilion.
IETA has two side event venues within the Hub: the Boardroom and the Side Event Theatre. You can find the IETA schedule of events here, while the UNFCCC has produced an online schedule of side events here.
We have a slimmer programme of side events on Wednesday, as COP begins to wind towards its cheduled close on Friday.
First up, at 0830 BRT we're hosting an invitation-only COP30 COP30 Women in Carbon Breakfast. Contact Elisa Guida for more details.
At 1300 BRT, IETA will present Carbon Markets Convergence: Building Integrity, Interoperability, and Scale, a panel discussion exploring how convergence across carbon markets can enhance credibility, liquidity, and integrity. Bolivia's environment minister and the under-secretary for climate change from the state de Nuevo León in México will give remarks, while officials from Volkswagen ClimatePartner, Yale University and Singapore's National Climate Change Secretariat will discuss harmonised standards, interoperability, and integrity frameworks to align voluntary and compliance systems, build trust, and scale investment in verified carbon credits toward achieving Paris Agreement climate goals.
Outside our Pavilion there are other sessions of interest to us, including at 1500 BRT an event in Side Event Room 1 entitled "Finance to Support Forestry Actions & Generate Real Carbon Removal Credits for Carbon Neutral Goals". Hosted by the China Green Carbon Foundation, will investigate how to drive more funding toward nature-based solutions. The event will review 20 years of global market and non-market cooperative approaches on forest carbon.
And at 1830 BRT in Side Event Room 4, the Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, together with Balance Eco Foundation and the The University of British Columbia will present a panel discussion on "Forests & Watersheds: High-Integrity NbS Driving Carbon Markets, Finance, and NDCs under Article 6". The session will showcase forests and watersheds as high-integrity NbS generating quality carbon credits, mobilising finance, and enabling Article 6 cooperation.
At the same time in Side Event Room 5, the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute will highlight policy leadership across Europe, South America, North America, and MEA that's advancing CCUS in hard-to-abate sectors, driving climate ambition while navigating global response measures such as CBAM.