COP30: Addressing global challenges in the face of the climate emergency

In 1992, the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit led to the creation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), establishing the foundation for the Conference of the Parties (COP). Three decades later, Brazil will once again host world leaders for COP30, at a pivotal moment for the planet. The accelerating impacts of climate change, including extreme temperatures, prolonged droughts, and an increase in natural disasters, demand urgent and ambitious action.   

Brazil’s selection as the host of this conference offers a unique opportunity to protect the Amazon, the world’s most important carbon sink, and address key issues amidst an unprecedented global crisis. The science is unequivocal: the window for transformative decisions is closing, and the risks of inaction are growing—not only for the environment but also for our health and global social and economic stability. 

2019 was the second warmest year of all time and marked the end of the warmest decade we have ever recorded. Moreover, in the same year, carbon dioxide levels and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere reached record highs.  In the absence of action, the Earth's average surface temperature will rise by approximately three degrees Celsius during this century.

We are seeing the effects of climate change on our own skin, including changes in weather patterns, rising sea levels, and the most intense weather events we have ever seen. In addition, these effects of climate change adversely affect the economy and the lives of individuals, communities, and countries, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable.

According to scientific consensus, we are at a crucial point in time when we can no longer allow irreversible changes to occur to the planet's ecosystems and climate. The 2022 edition takes place at a particularly relevant moment, because only a few weeks after Earth Hour, the COP15 of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity will take place, at which a new global action plan capable of halting and reversing biodiversity loss will be discussed.

In June 2024, global temperatures surpassed pre-industrial levels by 1.5°C for 12 consecutive months—a historic first. Scientific warnings indicate that this could mark the beginning of a prolonged warming period, undermining the goals set in the Paris Agreement. Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), emphasized that “exceeding the 1.5°C threshold in a single year does not preclude achieving the long-term temperature goals outlined in the Paris Agreement, as these targets depend on trends measured over decades, not on individual years.” However, Saulo also acknowledged that "every fraction of a degree of warming counts. Regardless of whether the temperature stays below or exceeds 1.5°C, any additional warming intensifies the consequences for our lives, our economies, and the planet.”  

Extreme weather events, which are becoming more intense due to climate change, are already causing significant harm to ecosystems and human lives. In 2024, the World Weather Attribution (WWA) international research network documented 219 extreme weather events. Among the 26 events studied, at least 3,700 deaths were recorded. Furthermore, WWA estimates that the ten deadliest extreme weather events over the past two decades have caused over 570,000 deaths.  

The climate crisis is wreaking havoc on people’s lives. While some effects, such as extreme weather events, are more obvious, others are subtler but equally damaging to health and quality of life. Myrto Tilianaki, Senior Advisor on Human Rights and the Environment at Human Rights Watch, explains that "burning fossil fuels is the primary cause of global climate collapse, impacting millions worldwide. Communities living near extraction and production sites have borne the worst impacts of this industry for decades.” She refers to a study by Human Rights Watch that highlights the pollution caused by the fossil fuel and petrochemical industry in the "Cancer Corridor" in Louisiana.

The first COP, held in Berlin in 1995, launched international negotiations to define concrete actions to combat climate change. Two years later, at COP3 which was held in Japan in 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted, comprising binding emission reduction targets for 36 industrialized countries and the European Union. However, its impact was very limited because it didn’t include developing countries.

The Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, represented a crucial step forward by establishing global goals, such as limiting the global temperature increase to less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels, with the additional effort of not exceeding 1.5°C. Within this framework, each country must submit, every five years, a national climate action plan, referred to as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), detailing the steps it will take to achieve these goals. Despite these efforts, the NDC Synthesis Report indicates that implementing all current plans would only achieve a reduction of 51.5 gigatons of CO2 by 2030, which would represent a mere 2.6% decrease compared to 2019 levels. This percentage leaves us very far from meeting global emissions reduction targets. In fact, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that a 43% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is needed by 2030 compared to 2019 levels, a goal that now seems virtually impossible to achieve.

This year, countries must submit new climate plans to accelerate the transition to low-carbon economies. Although most countries have not submitted their plans by the agreed deadlines, the UN is confident that more than 170 countries will submit their new climate plans before COP30. However, the quality of said plans is vital, and therefore the UN has emphasized that if they are not sufficiently ambitious, the world will be headed for a temperature increase of more than 3°C, which would have catastrophic consequences.

This global commitment is essential, but geopolitical uncertainties remain an obstacle. At COP29, held in Baku, developed countries agreed to raise at least $300 billion annually by 2035 to finance climate action in developing countries. Although this figure exceeds the $100 billion annually agreed upon in Copenhagen in 2009, it still falls far short of the real needs estimated by the scientific community and the most vulnerable countries.

A study published in Nature estimates that, regardless of future decisions, climate change will result in a 19% reduction in global income over the next 26 years. The report also underscores that the cost of mitigating future emissions is significantly lower than the economic damage caused by continuing to use fossil fuels. 

In this context, global insurers are not only facing traditional risks but also emerging risks related to climate change. Over recent decades, the number of such events has increased by 10%, resulting in a 36% rise in insurance sector losses, with a total cost of €367.3 billion. Given this reality, the insurance sector must become a key player in the energy transition and in the necessary transformations to ensure environmental sustainability.  

At MAPFRE, we are committed to actively participating in COP30 and increasing our efforts to raise awareness about the risks the insurance sector faces. To this end, we will organize meetings with our staff, experts, and stakeholders to reflect on and offer strategies that can contribute to halting the planet’s deterioration. As Antonio Huertas, MAPFRE’s President, explains: “Our environmental commitment is to gradually and firmly raise sustainability standards, supporting society in a just energy transition with a strong social focus, helping companies transform and continue creating wealth in a more sustainable and environmentally respectful way.” 

At MAPFRE, we are driving various initiatives within our Global Corporate Sustainability Plan, including investment and underwriting commitments to decarbonize the economy and promote a just energy transition model. In the ESG product and service space, we highlight initiatives like the Biogas Fund, insurance for electric vehicles, agricultural policies covering crop damage, and home and business insurance with clauses for weather-related events. We also work to improve insurance accessibility for lower-income populations through projects like MAPFRE na Favela.  

On the investment side, we apply strict exclusion criteria, such as not investing in companies that generate 30% or more of their revenue from coal-based energy. We also avoid insuring the construction of new infrastructure tied to coal mining, thermal power plants, tar sands, or oil and gas exploration in the Arctic. 

Thanks to our efforts to reduce energy consumption and decarbonize operations, we have managed to reduce our carbon footprint by 25%. Additionally, we are developing reforestation projects in Spain, Portugal, and Peru, as well as the "Floresta" project in Brazil, which has led to the planting of over 6,500 trees and the offsetting of more than 30,000 tons of CO₂. To promote the circular economy, we have launched initiatives like CesviRecambios, which gives a second life to thousands of parts from total loss vehicles.  

Throughout this process, strategic partnerships and collaboration with various political, economic, and social actors remain crucial. For this reason, we also work with organizations such as WWF Spain, Funzel, BirdLife, Nature Trust, and Para la Naturaleza to protect biodiversity, as well as companies like Iberdrola that are investing in renewable energy. 

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