As global leaders gather in Belém, Brazil, for the landmark United Nations COP30 climate conference, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) is demanding a decisive shift in global climate action to keep the 1.5°C warming limit within reach. With new data showing that global commitments remain far off-track, AOSIS has formally proposed a new agenda item aimed at addressing what it calls the “ambition and implementation gap” in countries’ climate pledges.
The proposal, titled “Responding to the NDC Synthesis Report and Addressing the 1.5°C Ambition and Implementation Gap,” seeks to establish a dedicated space under the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA) to acknowledge the findings of the UNFCCC’s (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) latest global assessment and agree on concrete actions needed before 2030.
AOSIS said this step is essential to ensure COP30 becomes a turning point.
“The latest NDC Synthesis Report will likely confirm that the current collective effort remains far from the trajectory required to keep 1.5°C within reach,” AOSIS wrote in its proposal submitted in October. The Alliance argued that without accelerated and coordinated action in the near-term, especially by major emitters, small island developing states (SIDS) and other vulnerable countries will continue to suffer the most severe consequences of climate change.
That concern was echoed during the COP30 SIDS Preparatory Days, held November 6–7, where representatives stressed that communities in small island states are already facing crippling economic, environmental, and social losses from climate impacts. AOSIS Chair, Ambassador Ilana Seid, said that many SIDS “can no longer endure the excuses of bigger countries” while their populations face what she described as increasingly existential threats.
“We are proposing this agenda item because the world’s current trajectory toward climate catastrophe is unacceptable – morally, scientifically, and legally,” Ambassador Seid said. “Small islands are paying the highest price for inaction, as we see right now in Jamaica’s devastating experience with Hurricane Melissa.”
The UNFCCC’s latest NDC Synthesis Report found that only 64 countries, representing 30 per cent of global emissions, have submitted new or updated national climate plans. Current commitments would lead to warming significantly higher than 1.5°C, the limit scientists say is critical to prevent irreversible climate impacts. AOSIS argues that without urgent increases in ambition and accelerated implementation, the world will lock in widespread loss and damage for vulnerable regions.
Mitigation remains a central priority for AOSIS. But the Alliance insisted that higher ambition must be matched with real support — including increased climate finance, expanded adaptation funding, and just transition pathways for developing countries. “For small island nations, this is not about negotiation tactics — it’s about survival,” Ambassador Seid said. “COP30 must be remembered as the moment the world decided to act, together, to secure a liveable future.”
The call for urgency comes as the UN’s top climate official also warned that the world is out of time. In a statement on the eve of COP30, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said the Paris Agreement is “delivering real progress,” but it needs to accelerate rapidly, particularly in regions such as the Amazon, where global environmental stakes are high.
Stiell said the conference must achieve three core outcomes: reaffirm global cooperation, speed up climate action across all sectors, and demonstrate tangible benefits for everyday people, such as cleaner air, economic opportunities, and secure energy access. “At each COP, countries have overcome their differences and delivered,” he said. “So, let’s get on with the job.”
As negotiations begin in Belém, AOSIS leaders said the credibility of the global climate process could hinge on what happens next. The Alliance argued that failure to act decisively at COP30 would represent not only a diplomatic failure but a moral one, with consequences that small islands will feel first and hardest.
