COP30 Short-Term Action Group
Brazil 2025
The COP30 Short-Term Action Group has been set up to enable coordinated civil society advocacy in the lead up to the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
The Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) is taking place in Parà, Brazil, in November 2025.
Our Focus
The COP process represents the main climate change policy influencing mechanism as part of the UNFCCC. In recent years, there has been growing attention within COP processes to the intersection between climate change and health, including mental health. Health played a particularly central role in COP28 with a Health Day dedicated to health and a Ministerial Declaration on Climate & Health endorsed by more than 140 member states.
Mental health however remains unequally represented in this fora. For example, only 14 out of 55 ministerial interventions mentioned mental health as part of the Climate & Health Ministerial that took place at COP28. We want this to change. Mental health should receive the same amount of attention as physical health within climate discussions.
COP30 will take place in Parà, Brazil in 2025. COP30 will be particularly important given it represents an opportunity for countries to submit their updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). This represents the third round of NDCs with a time horizon up to 2035.
Our Objectives:
Bring together stakeholders actively engaged in climate change and mental health and psychosocial programming, policy and advocacy in Brazil and the broader Latin America and Caribbean region.
Advocate for the integration of mental health and psychosocial wellbeing within the broader health, environmental, and social policy discussions at COP30.
Consider how COP30 could be used as a platform to promote policies that address the climate-mental health nexus at the national level across Brazil and the wider Latin America and Caribbean region.
Establish mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of interventions aimed at addressing the climate-mental health nexus.
Coordinate the civil society efforts in the mental health and psychosocial sphere at COP30 (e.g., side events etc.). Additionally, provide tools and resources for building resilience and coping strategies in communities affected by climate-related stressors.
Environment, Climate Change and Mental Health Advocacy Briefs:
The Action Network has co-created and published important advocacy briefs focused on Environment, Mental Health and Wellbeing. They draw upon recommendations from esteemed organisations like the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). These briefs provide a comprehensive overview of the current and projected impacts of climate change on mental health and outline practical measures that governments should undertake to address current and future mental health challenges. The briefs are currently being widely used by our members, with translations into French, Spanish and Portuguese, with more translations coming soon into Azerbaijani and simplified Chinese.
Recommended links:
Alessandro Massazza, United for Global Mental Health, From Baku to Belém: Mental health at COP29 and onwards
If you are interested in following this work, please first ensure you are a member of the Global Mental Health Action Network by signing up here, and join the Environment Working Group. This STAG is of particular interest to members in Brazil, Latin America and the Caribbean.