22 November 2025
Efforts by climate vulnerable countries to adapt and develop resilience to climate change have been undermined by an agreement at the COP30 UN Climate Change Conference to push back an increase of adaption finance by five years.
Signe Norberg, Director of Policy and Public Affairs for the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (ISEP), said: “Efforts to agree a timeline to phase-out of fossil fuels have fallen short, but that doesn’t mean 1.5 degrees is off the table.
"However it is disappointing that the parallel debate around tripling adaptation finance, has been pushed back by five years to 2035. Based on new research ISEP on the latest Nationally Determined Contributions, some the most vulnerable countries are making the biggest efforts to equip their communities with the skills to adapt the impacts of climate change - yet they are not be backed up by support from the most able countries.
"This year’s climate summit was held at a critical junction, 10 years on from the Paris Agreement, and while a lot has been achieved in the past decade, this was a vital moment for the international community to come together. While it is disappointing that the decision reached at COP30 fails to give a timeframe for the phase-out of fossil fuels, something which is required by scientific evidence to limit global temperature rises and prevent irreversible tipping points, it highlights continued international consensus that we need to urgently tackle climate change. The failure to explicitly reference it in the final text is unfortunate and needs to be addressed at upcoming COP31.
“In a similar vein, there was hard work to ensure that adaptation finance remained on the table, and while the text does agree on the tripling of adaptation finance by 2035, this is five years later than what has been called for, in order to help the most vulnerable countries combat the impact of climate change. At a COP that was billed as the indigenous peoples' summit, some progress has been made to recognise their voice, but further action is needed to reflect the disproportionate impact of climate change.
“However, determination remains to limit temperature rises to 1.5 degrees. This is significant given the pressures facing countries across the globe and the emphasis of halting and reversing deforestation by 2030 is welcome. This places an emphasis on global leaders, such as the UK, who now need to play a vital role to lead diplomatic efforts to increase ambition and ensure satisfactory agreements on climate finance, the timeframe for phasing-out fossil fuels, and carbon markets that will unlock global financial flows and create a fair and just transition for all.”
This paper summarises the findings on green skills in three key international reviews: The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) synthesis report on Nationally Determined Contributions, the International Labour Organization’s 2024 report Mapping Just Transition in the NDCs, and the World Bank’s 2024 report Choosing our Future: Education for Climate Action. It then sets out analysis of the individual NDCs, revealing themes for further research and advocacy.
The report reveals that while countries recognise “capacity-building and human resources” as an essential means of climate action, the focus on education and skills is often high-level, and dispersed across sections on adaptation, just transition or youth engagement, rather than integrated into national education and training plans.
