The European Union’s delegation landed in Belém, Brazil, for COP30, carrying not only a long list of climate commitments but also the weight of expectation. After years of summits, roadmaps, and declarations, this year’s conference must deliver something tangible: a credible pathway for funding the green transition—especially in developing and emerging economies.

Europe enters the talks with clear positions. The EU Council conclusions of October 2025 reaffirm the continent’s commitment to keeping global temperature rise within 1.5 °C, accelerating the phase-out of fossil fuels, tripling global renewable-energy capacity, and doubling energy-efficiency gains by 2030. These goals are ambitious, but they will remain aspirational unless the world succeeds in mobilizing the capital required to achieve them.

The EU supports the new global target adopted in Baku—the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance—aiming to raise USD 1.3 trillion annually by 2035. Yet even as the headline figures grow, the flows of actual finance remain uneven. Emerging and developing economies, which represent roughly one-quarter of global GDP, still receive only about 14 percent of international climate finance.

A recent report by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) sheds light on why. Prudential regulations—such as the Basel Framework that governs how banks assess risk—often discourage investment in developing markets. Guarantees from public development banks or political-risk insurers are frequently deemed “non-qualifying” for capital relief, even when they substantially reduce risk. Meanwhile, project-finance structures—crucial for renewable energy and resilient infrastructure—face disproportionately high capital charges.

A man takes part in a protest from the “Debt for Climate” movement to demand the cancellation of what they call illegitimate debt of the Global South, while the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) is underway, in Belem, Brazil, November 11, 2025. REUTERS/Adriano Machado

The result is a paradox: the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries pay the highest cost of capital to fund their transition. This is not a question of charity but of financial architecture. Without targeted reform, even Europe’s most generous pledges cannot translate into scalable impact.

Belém—surrounded by the Amazon, the planet’s greatest carbon sink—is an evocative place to redefine how climate finance works. The EU has pledged to ensure that “all finance flows are consistent with the Paris Agreement.” That principle must now move from communiqués into the rules of global banking and investment.

If prudential regulation recognizes the true risk-mitigation power of multilateral guarantees, blended-finance instruments, and green infrastructure assets, private capital could be unlocked at scale. This is precisely what the ICC calls for: technical adjustments, not subsidies, to unleash hundreds of billions in sustainable investment.

Europe should lead this discussion in Belém—not only because it has the regulatory expertise, but because its credibility depends on it. The EU has long positioned itself as a global climate leader; now it must demonstrate that leadership in the domain of finance, where climate ambition meets economic reality.

For Greece, these debates are not abstract. Our Mediterranean basin is a frontline region of the climate crisis—facing rising temperatures, droughts, and marine ecosystem loss. Yet it also offers a model for the kind of cross-regional cooperation that the EU advocates.

In 2024, during the 9th Our Ocean Conference in Athens, Greece mobilized USD 11.3 billion in commitments from governments, investors, and philanthropies to protect marine ecosystems and accelerate the blue economy. Two new National Marine Parks were announced in the Ionian and South Aegean Seas, turning rhetoric into policy.

Indigenous people arrive at the Indigenous Camp on the day of the opening ceremony of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30), in Belem, Brazil, November 10, 2025. REUTERS/Anderson Coelho

This experience demonstrates that when regulatory clarity, political will, and innovative finance align, even small and medium-sized economies can achieve global impact. Greece can now bring that lesson to Belém—linking the EU’s finance priorities with real examples of ocean and coastal resilience.

As the Chair of COMPSUD  and Chair of the Environment Committee of the Hellenic Parliament, I see Belém as a defining moment for Europe’s climate diplomacy. The EU’s priorities—finance, adaptation, and just transition—are aligned with our Mediterranean and blue-economy agenda.

But success will not be measured by declarations alone. It will depend on whether the world’s financial institutions, central banks, and regulators leave Belém with a shared commitment to reform the rules that currently constrain investment in the very regions that need it most.

If Europe can bridge the gap between ambition and access—between climate promises and financial reality—then COP30 may well mark the moment when the transition becomes truly global.

In the heart of the Amazon, the world will test whether our financial systems can finally serve the planet they helped to build.

Dr. Dionysia-Theodora Avgerinopoulou is Chair of the Environment Committee of the Hellenic Parliament, Chair of the Circle of Mediterranean Parliamentarians on Sustainable Development