Devex Pro Insider: Good COP, bad COP?

The big news this week is that there’s a climate conference on the horizon. The 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP30, begins tomorrow in Belém, Brazil, and it’s a hugely consequential and controversial event this year. On one hand, it’s clear that climate-related disasters are growing more severe, and the impacts more serious — witness the vast impact of Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica. On the other hand, there’s increasing pushback against any kind of response to the climate emergency, led by the “America First” administration of President Donald Trump. The Belém COP is also fraught with controversy over the choice of location. While the symbolism of a COP held at the edge of the Amazon rainforest is powerful, there have been major practical problems with organizing a conference of the necessary scale in a relatively isolated community. As a result, the conference has spilled over into multiple locations. Even before COP’s kickoff, we’ve had the usual flurry of announcements. There was major new funding committed to tackle methane emissions. There was the annual reveal of the winners of the Earthshot Prize. And there was the reveal — not much of a shock at this point — that the United States federal government would not send officials. Earlier this week, my colleague Ayenat Mersie sat down with Marcene Mitchell of the World Wildlife Fund and Karen Silverwood-Cope of World Resources Institute Brasil to look over the key issues. One of the key points to emerge was that Brazil has a huge amount of influence and credibility. More than most previous COP presidents, it has the chops to get things done. That being said, there’s a serious shortfall in responsibility. Countries were supposed to arrive at COP with their climate contributions — known as nationally determined contributions — already agreed. As of Friday, only 78 nations have done so. There's a $1 trillion-a-year gap between what’s needed to tackle the climate crisis and what nations say they are prepared to pay. If past events are any guide, the gap will be even larger in practice. We’ve got a comprehensive collection of coverage planned for you over the coming fortnight. We’ll have reporters’ notebooks, four exclusive newsletters, and of course, articles on all the key developments. If you want to access all of our COP30 coverage, you can bookmark our focus page, which will bring you absolutely everything we produce on the subject. Bits and pieces Arguing over the Bill. We’re going to stick with climate-related content for a bit here and take a look at controversial pre-COP comments from Bill Gates. “Is the money designated for climate being spent on the right things? I believe the answer is no,” the multibillionaire philanthropist wrote in his Gates Notes blog. Gates argued that the world needs to see greater focus on funding for innovation and human welfare, among other things. He said the summit was “a chance to refocus on the metric that should count even more than emissions and temperature change: improving lives.” It’s provoked a long tit-for-tat argument, with the Global Climate and Health Alliance saying that Gates had created a “false dichotomy” between spending on climate and spending on aid. Gates responded, effectively, that it’s a real dichotomy — that there is limited money to be spent on both aid and climate, and it needs to be committed as effectively as possible. We’re now at the responses-to-the-responses-to-the-responses stage — for example, this post, which effectively says, yes, there isn’t enough money to go around, but there should be. It’s not clear that the two sides of the argument are that far apart on the way the world ought to look, more on what they think is the best chance of getting there. Although, since there is considerably more nuance to it than that, we recommend reading what everyone wrote and making up your own mind. Storm warning. Sticking with climate a little longer, check out this rapid attribution study, which reached us by way of Inside Climate News. The study suggests that Hurricane Melissa, which is likely to cost more than $50 billion across the Caribbean, was made four times more likely by climate change. All in all, it suggests that the aid sector will need to be resourced for far more regular events of this magnitude, which is a worrying finding when combined with deep cuts to humanitarian funding from the Trump administration. ‘Rovina’s Choice.’ Those cuts, it seems, have already cost hundreds of thousands of lives. At least, that’s according to The New Yorker, which has acquired the rights to a new documentary tracking the impact of the cuts. The documentary, titled “Rovina’s Choice,” is executive-produced by Atul Gawande, a former USAID assistant administrator, surgeon, and author. It follows a woman in Kenya seeking treatment for her ailing daughter, and the difficult choices she faces following the closure of USAID facilities. No MUNGA hunger. It seems possible that the rest of the world may already have exhausted its enthusiasm for baseball caps emblazoned with variations on the “Make America Great Again,” MAGA, theme. Both the English and the Europeans are more likely to punch you in the face than chuckle if you show up in a MEGA — “Make England (or Europe) Great Again” — hat, for example. But that’s not stopping Mike Waltz, Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, who last week unveiled a “MUNGA” — “Make the U.N. Great Again” — hat that he plans to wear around the U.N. in the coming days. He told right-wing outlet Breitbart that the U.N. is bloated with woke insanity and progressive ideology, and that the Trump administration will show it “tough love” until it reforms. Berkley bites. Seth Berkley, the American doctor who led Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance during the COVID-19 years, has written a new book, “Fair Doses,” about his experiences. He’s taken aim at many politicians and other senior figures involved in the COVAX effort to get vaccine doses to low- and middle-income countries. Who’s driving Ford? The New York Times has a great interview with Heather K. Gerken, the incoming leader of the Ford Foundation — one of the favorite targets of U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who’s repeatedly criticized its agenda. Gerken has come out swinging in response, vowing to do whatever it takes to protect the rule of law. Red flags on the Mast. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has been joined by several other lawmakers in a letter to the government of the United Kingdom urging it to reconsider a Chinese “super embassy” planned for the center of London. The U.K. government will consider whether to approve the plans next month, and it’s caused some consternation in diplomatic circles. “The U.K. should be under no illusion that China is their friend,” Mast wrote in his recent missive. Although truth be told, the U.K. might right at the moment want more evidence that the United States is its friend, as well. Quiz of the month. Once again, it’s time for our monthly news quiz. It’s another good one, we promise. There are no prizes, but if you get full marks, we’ll give you the Devex seal of approval. In memoriam Smile Train, a nonprofit focused on individuals with a cleft palate, has produced a new film honoring Dikembe Mutombo, a Hall of Fame basketball player who dedicated himself to transforming health care in his hometown in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He founded the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital, or HBMM, where Smile Train supports cleft surgeries. “Though Dikembe passed on September 30, 2024, his vision and spirit live on at HBMM,” said Susannah Schaefer, president and CEO of Smile Train. “His dedication to the most vulnerable inspires every patient treated and every healthcare professional empowered at the hospital.” Moving on Omer Elnaiem will become global creative coordinator at UNHCR, the U.N.’s refugee agency, supporting creative vision and storytelling. Elnaiem has been with the agency for 11 years, previously serving as senior campaigns officer. Jun Jin has started a new position as general counsel and director of the Office of Legal Services at the United Nations Development Programme. For five years until March 2025, he held several positions at USAID, most latterly as acting general counsel. Impact Europe, a network of impact capital providers, has appointed Angela Wiebeck as its new CEO. She succeeds Roberta Bosurgi, who has led the organization since 2019. Wiebeck previously worked at Aquila Capital as chief sustainability officer and at UBS as head of sustainability projects. Matahari Global Solutions, a global health research group, has appointed Dr. Kathleen England as associate consultant in infectious disease diagnostics and emergency preparedness. Andrea Bertone and Elise Young have founded Women Rising International, a nonprofit that they will jointly lead to support the growth of women’s and youth organizations worldwide.