LocationsWhy COP30 Must Deliver Climate Justice, Not Just Promises, for the Global South
Towards COP30: Centring Global South Voices for a Just Climate Future
November 2, 2025
By Yudhisthir Chandra Biswas, Founder, Young Climate Action Network (YOUCAN). Member, United Nations Youth Advisory Group Bangladesh
For years, we have heard the phrase, “We must protect the climate for the next generation." But we, the youth, know that this is no longer a future problem. The climate crisis is hitting our livelihoods, our dreams, and our fight for survival every single day, right now. As I write this, people in a coastal village are once again fleeing their homes in search of shelter due to the threat of a cyclone. In different parts of the country, salinity is increasing, and elsewhere, agricultural land is being lost forever. The climate crisis in Bangladesh today is a continuous story of inequality, suffering, and destitution.
In this reality, as COP30 approaches in Belém, Amazon region, Brazil, in November 2025, this conference should not be just another international discussion forum for countries like ours, it must be a platform for justice, where historical debt and future rights are weighed together. Yet, we are already seeing inequality in the very preparation of this stage.
We hear that hotel rents in Belém have soared to over $500 a night. Such an expense is simply impossible for many delegates and civil society activists from developing nations. If an economic barrier is erected before COP30, whose very symbolic message was supposed to be the "Voice of the Amazon" and "Justice for the Marginalized," then the question arises: whose voice is this, truly? Are we genuinely coming together under one roof for global decision-making, or will the people of the Global South be excluded once again from these events due to inequality?
Speaking on behalf of the youth of Bangladesh, I want to state that it is time for us to demand not just participation in COP30, but change. The wealthy nations of the Global North, which are the primary sources of historical carbon emissions, have still failed to fulfill their climate finance promises. The $100 billion promised in 2009 remains unmet. The Loss and Damage Fund has been established, but its implementation is characterized by slowness, uncertainty, and political inertia.
We, the young people, will not wait any longer. We demand real action, not a mere rehash of old promises, where climate finance is grant-based (debt-free), transparent, and directly accessible to the affected communities. We demand an end to false solutions—no carbon markets or geoengineering but solutions rooted in human rights and the natural balance of nature. The term "Net Zero" must cease to be a PR stunt and take concrete form at the local level within every country.
We also have questions for our governments in the Global South: what role will you play at COP30? Will you be bold, or will you cave under international pressure? We demand that our governments move away from Fossil Fuel dependence, make democratic investments in renewable energy, and prioritize adaptation and loss and damage issues in the updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). It's not enough to simply make posters about "Climate Resilience" genuine adaptation must be brought to life in villages, cities, hills, and river chars, and in this process, we need to bring youth from the periphery to the center. The youth voice should not be confined within any single NGO, our representation must be mandatory in government delegations, national plans, and climate budget allocations. We demand a Youth Climate Audit be launched so that we can monitor and report on climate finance ourselves. In the distribution of the Loss and Damage Fund, the voices and experiences of the truly affected communities, not just large organizations, must lead.
We want COP30 to be a historical turning point, where young voices are not merely token participants but owners of the decisions, where "People over Polluters" is not just a slogan but the foundation of policymaking. Where decisions are based on cooperation, not the global North-South divide. Otherwise, this conference too will remain another political drama where voices were present, but ears were deaf.
As a young person from Bangladesh, I know that the question of climate justice is no longer just about a conference; it is a question of existence. A question of the future, and most importantly, a question of the present. The time for waiting is over; the time for demanding is now.
Sources:
https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/sub-issues/climate-finance-and-the-usd-100-billion-goal.html
https://unfccc.int/fund-for-responding-to-loss-and-damage
If the ‘Voice of the Amazon’ becomes an echo chamber of privilege, then whose voice is truly being heard?
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