Brazil Can't Even Guarantee Enough Hotel Rooms For Climate Summit, And May Price Out Developing Country Delegations

The UN climate bureau has held an urgent meeting about concerns that sky-high rates for accommodation at this year’s Cop30 summit in Brazil could price poorer countries out of the negotiations. Brazil is preparing to host Cop30 this November in the rainforest city of Belém, where representatives of nearly every government in the world will gather to negotiate their joint efforts to curb the climate crisis.

Concerns about logistics have dogged preparations for the summit. Developing countries have warned they cannot afford Belém’s accommodation prices, which have soared amid a shortage of rooms. In an emergency meeting of the UN’s “Cop bureau” on Tuesday, Brazil agreed to address countries’ concerns about accommodation and report back at another gathering on 11 August, said Richard Muyungi, the chair of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN), who called the meeting.

“We were assured that we will revisit that … to get assurances on whether the accommodation will be adequate for all delegates,” Muyungi said afterwards. He said African countries wanted to avoid reducing their participation because of the cost, adding: “We are not ready to cut down the numbers. Brazil has got a lot of options in terms of having a better Cop, a good Cop. So that is why we are pushing that Brazil has to provide better answers, rather than telling us to limit our delegation.”

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A diplomat familiar with Tuesday’s meeting said complaints about affordability came from both developed and developing countries. Wealthier countries have been told to expect nightly accommodation costs of up to $600 – far higher than at previous Cop meetings. The Panamanian negotiator Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez said in June that he feared the conference “might become the most inaccessible Cop in recent memory” and that developing countries, small island states, Indigenous voices and civil society would “not be adequately represented — if represented at all”.

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/30/un-emergency-talks-sky-high-accommodation-costs-cop30-brazil