CLIMATE ACTION
OPEC Fund adopts Paris Agreement alignment goals Further strengthening its commitment to climate action and joining the concert of multilateral development banks (MDBs), the OPEC Fund has adopted its Paris Agreement alignment goals. In September 2025, the Governing Board approved as targets achieving 60 percent alignment by 2027 and 80 percent by 2030, excluding trade finance. The ultimate goal is to reach 100 percent alignment across all operations in a transformation through a phased approach. A 2024 portfolio assessment found that the majority of OPEC Fund operations already align with the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty aimed at limiting global average temperature rise to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. MDBs have committed to aligning their operations with these goals through a joint framework, which guides the assessment of the alignment of financial flows with pathways toward low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development. The Financial Times associate editor Pilita Clark speaks of a “dismal pace of progress [which] has fueled demands for something the UN was not set up to do: drastically speed up measures to cut emissions.” Frustrated with the slow pace of progress there is talk of a new “Coalition of the Willing” outside the COP process of countries which are prepared to move faster and further. One idea put forward by the political scientist Jessica Green from the University of Toronto asks for a shift away from counting emissions to evaluating asset classes. Regardless of the controversies in the run-up to the conference up to 50,000 delegates are expected to attend COP30 in Belém and gain a personal impression of the gateway to the Amazon. It is not the first time that Brazil is hosting a global environmental conference: The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro 1992 was the cradle of the Rio Conventions, the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21. Twenty years on, leaders gathered again in Rio at the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). COP30 will also mark the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Paris Agreement. Whether this is a cause for celebration is debatable. The movement has succeeded in moving climate change to the top of the international agenda. But despite pledges of trillions of dollars and powerful calls for urgent action, the goals of the treaty were not even achieved when the prevailing zeitgeist was with the green transition. Now that the wind is blowing from the opposite direction, it is worth asking whether COP remains the best format to make much-needed progress. While advanced economies are turning their backs, developing nations are increasingly disappointed: Kgaugelo Mkumbeni, research officer at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, says: “Hope is dying in Africa when it comes to the COP process in general. There is a big sense of disillusionment.”
20. Climate and sustainable finance, mainstreaming climate in investments and insurance 21. Finance for adaptation 22. Climate-integrated public procurement 23. Harmonization of carbon markets and carbon accounting standards 24. Climate and trade 25. Reduction of non-CO2 gases 26. Governance, state capacities and institutional strengthening for climate action, planning and preparedness 27. Artificial intelligence, digital public infrastructure and digital technologies 28. Innovation, climate entrepreneurship and small and micro businesses 29. Bioeconomy and biotechnology 30. Information integrity in climate change matters. 6 Cross-cutting issues: Unleashing Enablers and Accelerators, including on Finance, Technology and Capacity Building
AI, digital public infrastructure and
biotechnology are important focus areas in meeting long-term climate goals.
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