For Brazilians, the barriers to COP30 participation are overwhelming

When I first learned that the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP30, would be held in Brazil, in the heart of the Amazon, I was hopeful. After years of following climate negotiations from a distance, this felt like a moment where young people like me — and the girls I work with — might finally have a seat at the table. But just months before the event, the barriers to participation are overwhelming. For most young people, even those who live in Brazil, getting to Belém, the COP30 host city, feels nearly impossible. It’s not for lack of interest or experience. It’s because of cost, logistics, and a lack of meaningful access to decision-making spaces. As a young Brazilian woman working directly with girls and traditional communities affected by climate crises, I see the effects of exclusion every day. While droughts, floods, displacement, and school disruptions are part of daily life for the young people I work with in Brazil, the systems in place to address the climate crisis still don’t make room for their voices. They know exactly what’s at stake as they are already facing this crisis — and they have ideas on how to adapt, which they could share if only they had a seat at the table. The real cost of ‘inclusion’ For many young climate advocates across Brazil, COP30 was meant to be a turning point — a chance to participate in a major climate summit without needing a passport or a major donor behind them. Hotel prices have surged since the announcement, with some rooms now listed at starting prices of $2,000 and above. Even budget hostels that once charged $15 are now asking for hundreds — often with concerns about basic safety standards. Accommodation offers for youth groups also often involve shared dorms with multiple beds, which raises serious safety and security concerns, especially for girls and young women. Meanwhile, the process for securing accreditation remains opaque and limited. Even if you can physically get to Belém, there’s no guarantee you’ll get through the gates. A local summit with global barriers Hosting COP30 in Brazil should have been an opportunity to break down barriers to participation — especially for Indigenous youth, Afro-descendant communities, and girls whose lives are already profoundly impacted by the climate crisis. Instead, they are being priced out. This isn’t just a matter of fairness. It undermines the legitimacy of the summit and weakens the decisions that will emerge from it. Participation from affected communities isn’t a symbolic gesture; it’s a practical necessity. If girls and young people aren’t in the room, the solutions being proposed will fail to reflect their realities. What equitable participation at COP30 really looks like There’s still time to make COP30 more inclusive — but it requires urgent action. Governments, donors, and the institutions running the summit need to act now to remove the financial and structural barriers. That means funding safe and accessible accommodation, especially for young women and girls. It means offering subsidized travel for Brazilian youth and delegates from low-income countries. It also means simplifying the accreditation process so that grassroots groups and youth-led movements can attend without unnecessary bureaucracy. And above all, it means ensuring these young people aren’t just visible — they are included in the core decision-making spaces that shape global climate policy. Climate justice means shared power Organizing a global summit is complex — especially in regions with limited infrastructure. But complexity should not be an excuse for exclusion. Equity is not a detail to be addressed at the end of the planning process. It must be designed into the process from the start. It is urgent that governments, international institutions, and COP organizers take action to ensure: safe and affordable accommodation, with financial support for those unable to pay; mobility programs and subsidized flights for Brazilian youth and for delegates from the most threatened and socioeconomically vulnerable countries; broad and fair access to U.N. credentials for grassroots organizations, youth-led groups, and representatives of traditional peoples and local communities; and real spaces for listening, influence, and decision-making, with active participation from girls, youth, and community leaders. To address this issue specifically for COP30, the presidency could implement a set of urgent measures aimed at ensuring equitable access. First, it could temporarily regulate maximum hotel prices by introducing emergency price control mechanisms based on Brazil’s Consumer Protection Code and economic emergency legislation. This would involve setting a price ceiling for hotels and guesthouses officially registered to operate during the summit, using the United Nations Daily Subsistence Allowance as a benchmark to ensure fair and reasonable pricing. In addition, the government could subsidize domestic travel for civil society delegations by establishing a public emergency fund to cover travel expenses for Brazilian participants. This fund should prioritize youth, Indigenous peoples, Quilombola communities, women, and human rights defenders, who are often excluded due to financial constraints. The presidency should also negotiate social fare agreements with major airlines, encouraging them to offer reduced or capped fares for flights to Belém between October and December. These measures would help prevent economic barriers to participation. Also, to guarantee transparency and accountability, the government could introduce formal reporting mechanisms to identify and address cases of economic exploitation or price gouging. These mechanisms would ensure that service providers uphold the public interest and respect the principles of fairness and accessibility in the context of a globally significant climate summit. The Amazon is one of the most critical ecosystems on the planet. The people who live there — including youth and girls — are some of the most knowledgeable and resilient players in the climate space. If they are not meaningfully included in COP30, the world will miss a vital opportunity to learn from them, and to act in partnership rather than paternalism. COP30 still has the potential to be a turning point. But only if it opens the doors to the people whose futures are most at stake.