The air in Belém, Brazil, was thick—not just with the humidity of the Amazon but with the sheer weight of expectation. I was there, embedded in the final, exhausting days of COP30, where the global climate conversation finally, mercifully, shifted.

For years, we’ve been stuck in the “Pledges Era”—grand, ambitious promises that were, frankly, easy to make because the deadline was always a decade away. Belém was the start of the “Implementation Era.” The question was no longer if we’d transition, but how to pay for it, who would be protected, and when the concrete plans would start.

The outcome—the Belém Consensus—is a massive, messy compromise, but one I believe sets the stage for 2026 to be the year of practical climate action.

---

The “Roadmap” Compromise: Realism Over Revolution

The biggest headline is the one that didn’t happen. Activists and many developed nations pushed hard for a final, legally binding treaty to phase out fossil fuels. The result? A voluntary Belém Roadmap for Transitioning Away From Fossil Fuels, a Presidency-led initiative outside the main negotiation text.

I witnessed the frustration and the sheer political chasm that led to this. For major developing economies—the Global South—a binding phase-out is viewed as an economic straitjacket. It means abandoning cheap, domestically available energy without guaranteed funding for the replacement infrastructure. Their argument is simple: the rich North industrialized using fossil fuels; the South needs flexible space to develop while transitioning.

• The Gyan: This roadmap is controversial, yes, but it’s a necessary dose of realism. It acknowledges that a transition driven by sanctions will fail. A transition driven by economic opportunity and supported finance is the only one that will stick. It creates a flexible framework, focusing on national circumstances, which, while slower, is arguably more resilient to geopolitical shocks.

---

A Major Win: The Tripling of Adaptation Finance

Amidst the arguments over phasing out old energy, there was a historic breakthrough on coping with the reality of a changing climate. The Belém Consensus committed to at least tripling adaptation finance by 2035 to help developing countries survive the impacts of climate change that are already locked in—things like rising sea levels, stronger storms, and crippling droughts.

For the nations of the Global South, this is the victory they needed. The money to deal with climate change is fundamentally split into two buckets:

• Mitigation Finance: Money to stop climate change (e.g., building solar farms).
• Adaptation Finance: Money to survive climate change (e.g., building sea walls, developing drought-resistant crops).

Historically, adaptation has been massively underfunded. Watching the negotiators from the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) fight for this was inspiring. They are not asking for money to get rich; they are asking for money to survive. This triple-commitment, alongside the operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund, finally puts resilience on an equal footing with emissions cuts.

---

The True North Star: The Just Transition

The defining theme of Belém, which informed every single decision, was the Just Transition. This is the understanding that a climate transition is fundamentally a social and economic transition. It must not create new poverty, new unemployment, or widen the already vast global inequality gap.

The final agreement established a new Just Transition Mechanism, which puts a rights-based, people-centric approach at the heart of climate action. This isn’t just about retraining a coal miner; it’s about:

• Ensuring the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities are protected.
• Creating social protection systems for vulnerable workers in the shift to green economies.
• Prioritizing grant-based, non-debt-creating finance for the poorest nations.

I sat in sessions where negotiators debated the inclusion of language about labor rights, human rights, and the role of women and youth. The consensus that emerged is that we cannot “save the planet” if we simultaneously crush the aspirations of the poor.

---

The Real Gyan: A Shift in Perspective

As I left Belém, the headline felt clear: The “Implementation Era” is here, and it’s going to be a battle for equity.

The world’s focus has been myopically fixed on one question: Are we saving the planet?

Belém forces us to confront the more complex, profound question: Are we building a fairer, more stable economic system while saving the planet?

The Fossil Fuel Roadmap, the tripled Adaptation Finance, and the Just Transition Mechanism are not perfect solutions. They are the practical, political blueprints for the next phase. They recognize that climate action is not just an environmental problem to be solved by engineers; it is a development problem that must be solved by economists, labor unions, Indigenous leaders, and governments working together.

2026 will be the year of making those blueprints real, of ensuring the new flow of finance reaches the communities on the front lines, and of proving that an equitable transition is the most ambitious transition of all.