COP30 concluded last Saturday in Belém after two intensive weeks of negotiations marked by both progress and persistent division. Fossil fuel producing countries such as Russia, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria succeeded in preventing outcomes that would go beyond the decisions taken in Dubai and Baku. Even so, the discussions on roadmaps created significant momentum, and the multilateral spirit of the Paris Agreement was upheld.
What does the Belém Package mean for transport, one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise? This blog reflects on five key takeaways from COP30 and explores what they imply for practitioners working to keep the sector aligned with the Paris Agreement.
The NDCs submitted before or at the start of COP30 highlighted a clear trend. Ambition for climate action is strengthening, including in transport, yet progress remains too slow to align with the 1.5 degree target. This is due both to shifts in ambition in some countries and to the slow pace of transition in others.
Analysis by GIZ and SLOCAT, reflected in the revised NDC Transport Tracker, shows that many countries included more specific commitments on electrification and sustainable mobility ahead of COP30. This greater clarity marks a welcome step forward. However, the scale of ambition is still insufficient, and some areas, such as freight transport, remain underrepresented.
For transport practitioners the real challenge is to translate these stated ambitions into concrete policies, project pipelines and interventions that deliver measurable emissions reductions. It is important to recognise that NDCs represent a floor rather than a ceiling. They define the minimum ambition that countries commit to, while real implementation can and should go further. China illustrates this clearly. Its rapid transition to electric mobility has helped bring national emissions to an earlier peak than expected, demonstrating that targeted policies and decisive action can outperform what is written in NDCs.
Road transport remains the largest contributor to emissions in the sector. At COP30 the debate on fossil fuel phase out, discussed under the Transition Away from Fossil Fuels (TAFF) Roadmap, reinforced the view that electrification will be central to any credible decarbonisation pathway.
Although the final decisions did not mandate a fossil fuel phase out, the direction of travel is clear. COP discussions are shifting from setting high level targets to developing roadmaps that show how to achieve them. The Brazilian COP presidency has committed to sustaining momentum and intends to keep the TAFF agenda alive through the Bonn intersessionals. The coalition of European and Latin American countries supporting this approach may also broaden. Many least developed countries expressed interest yet faced resistance from states determined to protect domestic gas resources.
In practical terms, transition the automotive industry to electric vehicles and scaling charging infrastructure are becoming unavoidable priorities. This signals to governments and industry that delaying electrification will only increase future costs and risks. Transport professionals should therefore focus on establishing comprehensive policy frameworks. The adopted decision on establishing a Just Transition Mechanism is something that matters for the transport sector in this regard.
Resistance from major fossil fuel producing countries prevented explicit phase out language in both the cover decision and the mitigation work programme. Despite this, the transport community provided a clear direction of its own. Chile presented a voluntary interim benchmark for 2035 that calls for a quarter reduction in transport energy demand and a one third share of renewables, in line with the International Energy Agency’s Net Zero roadmap. This declaration, branded as the Global Transport Effort, gives the sector a concrete point of orientation.
The Global Transport Effort is not a negotiated outcome. It is a voluntary commitment, created as a directional benchmark rather than a prescriptive plan. Its purpose is to signal where frontrunner countries intend to move and to encourage others to join or align by offering a shared point of reference. Supported by a coalition of ten countries and led by the Chilean Transport Minister Juan Carlos Muñoz, with strong backing from the Brazilian government, the initiative creates space for ambitious countries to move ahead.
Together with the electrification breakthroughs of COP26, the Global Transport Effort helps to frame what a realistic and achievable transition could look like in the medium term and encourages countries to begin formulating their own transport roadmaps. The launch event and press conference on 14 November were very well received and generated considerable attention. The declaration has been included among the key initiatives in the Global Climate Action report adopted at COP30. This is a significant achievement that now needs to be followed by sustained outreach, technical engagement and coalition building. It may also become an important element for the next global stocktake in 2028.
The Global Climate Action Agenda at COP30 built on a decade of cooperation under the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action. It remains a key platform for coordinating voluntary climate action across governments, cities, regions, businesses and civil society. In response to the findings of the first Global Stocktake, the agenda was structured around six thematic axes covering mitigation, adaptation and means of implementation.
For transport, this framework brought increased visibility and helped link existing initiatives more closely with wider work on clean energy and resilient infrastructure. Many of the most dynamic developments in zero emission mobility, freight decarbonisation and transport resilience are emerging through these collaborative platforms rather than through the formal negotiation tracks. COP30 adopted the COP30 Action Agenda_Final Report that includes the full compilation of those initiatives.
It is important to recognise that the Global Climate Action Agenda is voluntary, complementary to the negotiation process and not binding. Its success depends on scaling promising initiatives, maintaining political engagement and ensuring that voluntary coalitions can continue to act even when formal negotiations stall.
A major development at COP30 was the presence of the first ever transport pavilion. Co-organised by Brazil and the SLOCAT Partnership, it created a dedicated meeting place for the global transport community. The pavilion attracted strong attendance, showcased practical solutions and strengthened connections between governments, practitioners and international initiatives. Ideally, this pavilion will remain a regular feature at future COPs, at least until the next global stocktake, ensuring that transport continues to have a visible, coordinated and influential presence in the climate process.
The years ahead will mark the beginning of a new UN Decade of Sustainable Transport 2026 – 2035. For transport, this provides a significant opportunity to global climate commitments into tangible progress and align emerging roadmaps, such as the TAFF process and the Global Transport Effort, with broader UN priorities and implementation frameworks. If harnessed effectively, the UN decade of action can give transport the political visibility, technical direction and institutional support needed to move from fragmented progress to sustained implementation at scale.
In terms of decarbonization the UN Decade is relevant as the period from 2025 to 2035 will also be the decisive electric decade. These ten years will shape global EV uptake, the pace of charging infrastructure deployment and the ambition embedded in national strategies. Decisions made during this window will lock in investment patterns and technology pathways for decades. Using the UN decade of action to connect these developments with national planning, finance mechanisms and international support will be essential to drive implementation at the required scale.
The difference between promise and delivery remains the central obstacle facing transport. The next few years will determine whether the sector can move onto a Paris aligned pathway. COP30 did not resolve the main issues, and formal negotiations on fossil fuel phase out remain stalled. Yet the conference produced political signals, coalitions and practical guidance that practitioners can use immediately.
In practical terms, the transport community should now focus on the following priorities:
Looking ahead, COP31 in Antalya and COP32 in Addis Ababa will be pivotal milestones. Ethiopia’s commitment to a fully electrified transport vision will shape the global conversation. What happens between 2025 and 2035 will determine whether transport truly achieves the shift from ambition to implementation and moves towards a zero emission future. Let’s already start implementation on December 10, at the launch event for the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport.
For more information and discussion about COP30, join our online event Key Insights on Transport at COP30 on Thursday, November 27 at 16:00 CET.
Closing Plenary at COP30 in Belem, Brazil © UNFCCC by Kiara Worth
Daniel Bongardt
daniel.bongardt@giz.de
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