Dear Reader
It’s winter in Brussels, and getting chilly.
But in this edition, we head to the Amazon to look at COP-30 in Brazil, asking some of the simpler questions – like who’s there and who’s not…
While you might have heard about the COP, you might not have heard about the MOP, which is crucial to safeguarding our environmental rights and took place this week, led by the EEB✨. We also shine a light on perhaps the EU’s most bizarre-sounding policy proposal yet (“unlimited pesticides” anyone?). As ever, we’ve also got some good news, so read ‘til the end 😉
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🌍 COP-30 OVER HALFWAY
QUICK REMINDER – The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the annual global summit on climate change, one of the biggest events on the political, diplomatic, and business calendars. Its purpose? In theory, to provide a dedicated space for the world’s leaders and policymakers to reach agreements on addressing climate breakdown, an inherently global crisis that needs coordinated global responses.
STILL URGENT – The Paris Agreement, reached at COP-21 (2015), was an international legally binding treaty to keep global heating to well below 2 degrees (preferably 1.5) above pre-industrial levels. This is the first COP since average global temperatures exceeded 1.5 degrees in 2024, highlighting the growing urgency for action from COPs.
👀 SPOTTED AT COP: WHO’S THERE – AND WHO’S NOT?
U.S. STAYS AT HOME – The US decided not to attend in any government capacity (beyond Gary Newsom, governor of California and democratic favourite for a future presidential election, who had some things to say about his government’s skipping the summit).
BUT WHO DID BRING AN ARMY? While attention focuses on the US absence, let’s check the attendance register. The fossil fuel industry – at the root of the climate crisis – has sent 1,600 lobbyists. That’s one in every 25 participants, up 12% since last year. Our partners at Climate Action Network (CAN) International have been presenting “Fossil of the Day” awards this week, showcasing countries doing the most… to do the least about climate. Civil society wants that to change.
The Big Agriculture lobby, particularly Big Meat and Dairy, is also there in full force. One of the world’s most environmentally destructive industries, Big Ag is responsible for numerous threats to human and planetary survival – from tearing down rainforests for cattle ranches to planting toxic pesticide-soaked monoculture crops (to feed animals, not people!).
COP AS A PR OPPORTUNITY – Unsurprisingly, to these industries that would rather continue business-as-usual, COP is less something to engage in constructively, more a Public Relations opportunity. To sell the slogans and greenwash their way out of bearing responsibility for the damage they cause. This time, Big Ag is hosting expensive, exclusive side events, while hiring social media influencers and celebrities to help spread misinformation about diets – part of a well-documented playbook.
WHO’S BEEN LOCKED OUT? While the world’s most harmful industries have privileged access to obstruct progress, others who literally hold the solutions have been locked out of these vital discussions: Indigenous peoples. The people who stand at the first line of defence of our planet’s climate have rightfully demanded access to the COP deliberations. Tens of thousands marched through Belém in solidarity.
While those lobbies currently responsible for looting, felling and burning their ancestral homes – and crippling one of our planet’s vital sources of climate stability – the situation stretches beyond the ironic into the surreal. Check out this latest New Leaf on the tools to safeguard environmental defenders. This is where “MOP” comes in…
🤔 YOU’VE HEARD OF COP, BUT WHAT ABOUT MOP?
This week, the EEB led the Aarhus ECO Forum, at the 8th Meeting of the Parties (MOP) of the Aarhus Convention – the international treaty that enshrines our environmental rights: access to justice, access to information and public participation.
PSSST – The very fact NGOs are included in COPs (or are supposed to be) is underpinned by the Aarhus Convention. At ECO Forum, NGOs used our rare front-row seat to help defend vital environmental rights amid a worsening democratic climate, but felt the full force of the MOP’s rollercoaster ride:
TOP – Michel Forst, the current Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders, was reappointed, meaning his important work protecting defenders can continue for four more years.
FLOP – Those running the show warned that their work is at imminent risk due to a lack of funding. Sadly, parties seem to be going backwards in coming forward with the needed cash.
STOP – the EU and UK sought to delay adoption of the Compliance Committee’s findings against them; the EU eventually aligned with the treaty’s consensus approach, but the UK held out, forcing a postponement and jeopardising international cooperation.
DROP – parties adopted the Geneva Declaration, acknowledging the triple planetary crisis and recommitting to early, meaningful public participation in the context of the present moment.
At MOP 8, Aarhus’ principles were stress-tested but held, offering a much-needed anchor in an era of democratic backsliding.
🌱 EUROPE’S CHANCE TO LEAD ON CLIMATE
TIME FOR LEADERSHIP – With the US officially withdrawn from global climate action (for now), the EU has an opportunity to take the reins. With its long-standing commitments to decarbonisation, policy architecture, and steady progress in scaling renewable energy, the EU can still position itself as the world’s primary driver of emissions reductions. Reminder: a vast majority of Europeans recognise the severity of climate threats and are fully behind action.
LET’S RAMP UP – By accelerating investment in clean technologies, strengthening cross-border energy cooperation, and exporting its regulatory standards and green innovations, the EU can not only fill the leadership vacuum but also shape the next phase of the global low-carbon transition.
EEB AT COP TO TALK METHANE – The EEB is at COP, represented by Luc Powell, to talk about an often-overlooked source of climate emissions: methane. Check out what the fuss is all about – and why, with the right actions taken(!), there is some cause for hope in reducing planet-heating emissions.
🌾 EU AGRI CORNER
ALARMING PROPOSAL ON PESTICIDES – The EU Commission’s “simplification” push is becoming a bonfire of protections, and pesticide rules are next. A leaked draft would erase key safeguards – opening the door to unlimited pesticide approvals, waving goodbye to science, and further severely endangering people and nature. This stripping away of the rules that keep poisons out of our bodies and ecosystems must stop!
ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE – It’s World AMR Awareness Week, when we focus on one of today’s fastest-growing health threats: antimicrobial resistance, where microbes evolve to withstand the medicines meant to stop them. Intensive factory farming – built on crowded conditions and routine antibiotic use – is a major driver, creating drug-resistant bacteria that can spread to people and undermine global health.
🪨 EU RAW MATERIALS WEEK
GROWTH FOR WHOM? This year’s EU Raw Materials Week underscored the extractive reality of Europe’s mineral strategy. Investigations show Strategic Projects being pushed forward with weak safeguards, opaque decision-making and minimal community involvement – even as Europe’s material footprint far exceeds sustainable limits.
TIME TO CARE – The consequences are already visible across EU-backed projects at home and abroad, where meaningful participation, human rights protections and environmental due diligence are too often absent. Many projects sit in regions with fragile governance, water stress or Indigenous lands, yet move ahead without due care or impact assessments.
FILM TIME – Do you like films and are you in Brussels 24-28 November? Join us for Resource Justice Film Week where five films explore what happens when Europe’s so-called “green transition” meets the realities of extraction – and why the right to say no must be central to any just future.
🧠✨ DOPAMINE HIT
As ever, here are a few happy updates to get your weekend off to a perky start:
- France’s birds show signs of recovery after bee-harming pesticide ban. Read more here
- Colombia declares itself the first nation in the Amazon with its entire forest free from oil and mining activities. Read more here
- Zanzibar’s ‘solar mamas’ are trained as technicians to help light up communities. Read more here
- Western South Africa Sees Leopards Returning to Ancestral Habitat After 170 Years. Read more here
The EEB stands with Palestine – The people of Palestine continue to suffer genocide. The EEB is among more than 150 organisations that have backed the #RedLineForGaza. Last week, more than 15,000 took to the streets in Brussels, as tens of thousands continue to do across Europe and the world.
We stand with international law – with the rulings of the International Court of Justice, and with the right of Palestinians and people everywhere to live free from violence, oppression and occupation.
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By: Ben Snelson. Special thanks to the EEB’s editorial team: Roi Gomez, Ruby Silk and Alberto Vela Editor: Christian Skrivervik.
