Mutirão. From the Indigenous Tupi-Guarani language, the word translates to “collective efforts.” That was the concept that grounded the COP30 Local Leaders Forum in Rio de Janeiro and the United Nations’ 30th Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, this November.

Hosted by the COP30 Presidency and Bloomberg Philanthropies the first week of November, the Forum was an opportunity to celebrate and invigorate equitable climate action being led by communities – exactly the sort of action Kresge supports through our grantmaking and other activities. The Local Leaders Forum came just ahead of, and set a powerful tone for, COP30, now taking place in Belém, Brazil.

COP30 is notable in several regards. First, it arrives one decade after the Paris COP, which birthed the Paris Agreement, a legally binding treaty in which almost every nation in the world agreed to take action to combat climate change and prepare for its unavoidable harms. While each country was able to set its own targets and approaches, they collectively agreed to keep the average rise in temperature to “well below” 2.0°C. Progress over the past decade has been inadequate but still significant. Current estimates put the world on track to limit warming to 2.5°C to 2.9°C by 2100. While that is well above the agreed-upon target, it is also dramatically better than the pre-Paris estimate of up to 3.8°C.

Second, this represents the first COP in the 30-year history of the annual summits in which the U.S. government is absent. While the Trump administration asserted its intention to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement in January of this year, actual withdrawal will not take effect until January 2026. The U.S. also remains a part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the treaty that undergirds international climate negotiations. However, the Trump administration is seemingly doing everything within its power to halt and reverse climate action in the U.S. and abroad, a challenge that haunts this year’s negotiations.

Third, COP30 is being held at the gateway to the Amazon, which plays a starring role on the climate stage. Roughly two-thirds as large as mainland America, the Amazon rainforest holds an enormous amount of carbon in its trees, plants, and soil, storing it safely out of the atmosphere. In fact, the Amazon holds nearly one-fifth of all carbon stored in vegetation globally. At the same time, the Amazon is under intense pressure from deforestation as well as droughts and fires worsened by climate change. When that carbon is released into the air, it intensifies climate change in a destructive feedback loop.

The Amazon is also home to 1.5 million Indigenous people, whose communities and ancestors have cared for this remarkable ecosystem for thousands of years. While these and other Indigenous peoples and cultures around the world are profoundly threatened by the impacts of climate change, they have also been woefully underrepresented in national and international climate planning and negotiations. The UN selected Belém as the site of this year’s COP in part to spotlight Indigenous leadership. Sônia Guajajara, Brazil’s minister of Indigenous peoples, said that up to 5,000 Indigenous people had come to Belém for the events. “There is no solution to avoid climate change without the participation of Indigenous people,” she told the New York Times. “They need to be here.”

Grounding this year’s negotiations is the idea of “mutirão.” Adopted as the theme of the meeting, “It refers to a community coming together to work on a shared task, whether harvesting, building, or supporting on another,” wrote COP30 President André Aranha Corrêa do Lago. “By sharing this invaluable ancestral wisdom and social technology, [we invite] the international community to join Brazil in a global ‘mutirão’ against climate change, a global effort of cooperation among peoples for the progress of humanity.”

Mutirão also undergirded the Local Leaders Forum in Rio de Janeiro. Bringing together local leaders and many of the nonprofit and philanthropic partners supporting local climate action, including Kresge, the Forum was designed to spotlight local innovations, strengthen partnerships, and advance a unified subnational climate agenda.

The Forum was also designed to deliver a symbolic and literal message to the national leaders meeting in Belém. Attendees affirmed that, “[W]e — the local leaders and networks representing more than 14,000 cities, towns, states, regions, provinces, and devolved governments across every continent — have come together at the COP30 Local Leaders Forum to affirm our unwavering commitment to fighting the climate crisis with real on-the-ground solutions. At a time when climate impacts worsen globally, their consequences threaten the lives and livelihoods of millions, and global climate ambition still falls short of what is needed, we heed the call of the COP30 Presidency to bring solutions to Belém as part of the global mutirão.”

The local leaders committed to three specific actions:

1. Helping countries achieve their national climate goals by actively engaging as partners in implementation and ensuring a just and resilient transition;
2. Ensuring a robust pipeline of local projects to help localize and channel climate finance for both mitigation and adaptation; and
3. Advancing multilevel action and collaboration to make the COP process one of implementation and accountability.

The powerful statement noted that:

“Together, we are committed to making life more affordable and building more resilient communities by expanding renewable energy access, accelerating energy efficiency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, advancing nature-based solutions, and protecting forests, biodiversity, and water. Around the world, regions are publishing robust transition and adaptation plans, showing how climate action and nature protection can go hand in hand for stronger local economies and fairer futures. Cities are planning ambitious climate actions for the next 12 months — and will do so every year. [….]

“Our collective action is a beacon of hope for the people we serve every day. By turning global, national, and local climate policies into tangible results, we are improving the daily lives of our residents: creating new jobs, cleaner air, safer streets, healthier and more inclusive communities, and stronger economies. [….]

“To the world leaders gathering in Belém next week: you can count on us. Local leaders are ready to join you in a true global mutirão — working side by side to turn ambition into action and promises into progress. Our collective commitment will help advance the COP30 Action Agenda and fuel the spirit of global collaboration needed to deliver a just, resilient, and sustainable net-zero future for all not only for this COP, but for generations to come.”

Given the loss of U.S. leadership at the federal level, the Local Leaders Forum paid particular attention to continued commitment and progress from communities across the nation. The governors of New Mexico and Wisconsin, as well as the mayors of Austin, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, were among the leaders from dozens of U.S. communities at the Forum. As Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego pointed out, two-thirds of the U.S. population and three-fourths of economic activity are represented by communities working aggressively on climate action. “If we are going to deliver on the Paris Agreement,” she said, “local governments are going to do it.”

The energy at the gathering, which included many of our public-sector, nonprofit and philanthropic partners, was palpable and heartening. Towns, cities, states, and regions are making impressive and essential progress. As made clear in Rio, local communities will continue to lead the way. Importantly, they will continue to do so in deep collaboration, working together as a manifestation of the global mutirão that Brazil has inspired.