By Cian Delaney
BRUSSELS, Belgium, Nov 7 2025 – President Prabowo Subianto welcomed his counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil to Jakarta recently to strengthen ties between the fast-growing economies.

The timing is significant. The meeting was just weeks before Brazil hosts the COP30 climate change talks in Belém, a bustling port city at the mouth of the Amazon River.

Like Brazil, Indonesia is home to expansive rainforests that attract intense international scrutiny because of their rich biodiversity and globally-important role as carbon sinks. And like Brazil, Indonesia has implemented new policies designed to boost biofuel use.

The leaders, who agreed to expand cooperation as two of the world’s largest biofuel producers, contend that the energy sources are needed to reduce reliance on imports and cut emissions.

But Indonesia has been down this road before.

Cian Delaney

In the mid-2000s, booming international demand for highly versatile palm oil—a key ingredient for biofuels—led the country to clear millions of hectares of rainforest and peatland to make way for vast plantations.

The gold rush for the oil displaced indigenous communities, smallholder farmers, and destroyed vital ecosystems that critically endangered species like orangutans, Sumatran tigers, and the Javan rhinoceros depend on to survive.

In Borneo alone, far from reducing carbon pollution, slash and burn agriculture caused the largest single-year global emissions increase seen in 2,000 years, according to NASA.

Falling demand and the introduction of conservation measures helped slow deforestation over the subsequent decade, however, the Subianto-Lula meeting reflects a troubling resurgence of biofuels as a global commodity.

Brazil will ask the international community at COP30 to sign a pledge calling for a quadrupling of so-called “sustainable fuels”—biofuels chief among them—over the next decade.

The proposed pledge rests heavily on a new International Energy Agency (IEA) report that shows a fourfold increase can be achieved through innovative fuel developments and a doubling of biofuel use. In the fine print, however, the IEA notes that no additional land should be needed to meet the goal.

Brazil’s COP30 pledge makes no such distinction—raising concerns that growing demand will incentivize deforestation and heighten competition for land that is already scarce.

In August, Brazil lifted a soy moratorium that environmentalists credit for the significant conservation gains made over the past two decades to make way for more cultivation.

There is also the question of food.

Globally, about 90 percent of biofuel production relies on food staples. In 2023, the biofuel industry used around 200 million tonnes of corn, 8 million tonnes of wheat, 40 million tonnes of vegetable oil and enough sugarcane and sugarbeet to make 50 million tonnes of sugar.

By one estimation the energy stored in these crops could satisfy the minimum caloric requirements for 1.3 billion people, while it takes nearly 3,000 litres of water to produce enough biofuel to drive a car only 100 kilometers.

Biofuels also have serious implications for the atmosphere. Litre for litre it is estimated that, when the full impact of land use change caused by biofuel production is accounted for, they emit an average of 16% more carbon than the fossil fuels they replace.

But transitioning away from biofuels cannot ignore social and economic realities on the ground. Indonesia’s new policies, for example, stem from the country’s palm oil surplus and a need to maintain rural employment.

In response, Indonesian NGOs have increasingly been advocating for a holistic solution that would put caps on expansion, improve traceability, and invest in community-based governance, including a decentralized energy system.

At the beginning of the year, Indonesia formally joined the BRICS, an influential bloc of developing nations that make up almost half of the global population and conduct nearly a quarter of all trade.

The countries also account for 51 percent of emissions. In recent years, the bloc has made statements that suggest climate change is its top foreign policy priority and last July committed to increasing peer-to-peer climate finance.

If Indonesia and its new partners are serious about building a new kind of economy that works for the Global South without undermining progress made toward cutting emissions, they will need to match their lofty rhetoric with tangible action. Starting an honest conversation about biofuels in Belém would be a good place to start.

Cian Delaney is Campaign Coordinator, Transport & Environment

IPS UN Bureau

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?’http’:’https’;if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+’://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js’;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, ‘script’, ‘twitter-wjs’);  

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 7 2025 – “Has the world given up fighting climate change?” was a rhetorical question posed recently by the New York Times, perhaps with a degree of sarcasm.

It might look that way, says Christiana Figueres, a founding partner of the nongovernmental organization Global Optimism, “as US president Donald Trump blusters about fossil fuel, Bill Gates prioritizes children’s health over climate protection, and oil and gas companies plan decades of higher production.”

But that’s far from the whole picture, said Figueres, pointing out that the overwhelming majority of the world’s people — 80 to 89%, as Covering Climate Now partner newsrooms have been reporting — want stronger climate action.

Clean energy technologies are attracting twice as much investment as fossil fuels, and solar power and regenerative agriculture are surging across the Global South, she said.

Meanwhile, the United States will not send any high-level officials to the COP30, according to the White House.

John Noel, campaigner with Greenpeace International, told IPS the current administration is ceding leadership and leverage over the clean energy future to other countries.

“It is tragic, but not surprising. But for those of us heading to Belem from the United States, we are on solid ground with public opinion in broad support of the Paris Agreement and are more committed than ever.”

There are avenues, he pointed out, for climate ambition at the subnational level, such as ‘polluter pay’ mechanisms and state incentives for clean energy during the federal lapse in support.

“Global leaders at COP30 must move forward to adopt ambitious climate targets, end global deforestation by 2030, and advance a just energy transition and climate action must continue on” Noel declared.

Addressing the plenary of leaders at the Belem Climate Summit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said November 6 “the hard truth is that we have failed to ensure we remain below 1.5 degrees.”

“Science now tells us that a temporary overshoot beyond the 1.5 limit – starting at the latest in the early 2030s – is inevitable. We need a paradigm shift to limit this overshoot’s magnitude and duration and quickly drive it down”.

Even a temporary overshoot will have dramatic consequences. It could push ecosystems past irreversible tipping points, expose billions to unlivable conditions, and amplify threats to peace and security.

Every fraction of a degree means more hunger, displacement, and loss – especially for those least responsible. This is moral failure – and deadly negligence, he warned.

The United Nations, however, will not give up on the 1.5 degrees goal, he declared.

While clean energy technology is rapidly progressing, political will is seen as weakening, and current efforts are insufficient to prevent significant warming. For example, despite a pledge to cut methane emissions, a new U.N. report indicates the goal will likely not be met.

Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director, The Oakland Institute, told IPS people must be very concerned that governments, especially Western countries that bear most of the responsibility for the climate crisis, are far from fulfilling their commitments in terms of decreased reduction of GHG, and far from assisting countries with adequate levels of financial assistance for mitigation and adaptation.

“It should be as concerning that the same governments, and prominent financial institutions like the World Bank, are promoting false climate solutions such as carbon markets, which have been proven to be totally ineffective at reducing emissions” she said.

Moreover, it must be clear for everyone that the new mining rush “we are witnessing for so-called critical minerals has nothing to do with the energy transition but rather with the global competition over minerals for various industries such as military, communication technologies, as well as electric vehicles”.

The massive amount of minerals such as lithium and cobalt will be impossible to supply without creating another environmental and human crisis. It is time for governments to make responsible choices towards a real energy transition and stop expanding sectors such as the military that divert public resources and contribute greatly to emissions, she pointed out.

It is widely documented that simply replacing existing gas-powered cars with electric vehicles is impossible. If today’s demand for EVs is projected to 2050, the lithium requirements of the US EV market alone would require triple the amount of lithium currently produced for the entire world.

“We need aggressive policies to reduce the number and size of personal vehicles and deploy effective public infrastructures and other low-carbon means of transportation” declared Mittal.

Speaking a press conference in Qatar November 4, Guterres said governments must arrive at the upcoming COP30 meeting in Brazil with concrete plans to slash their own emissions over the next decade while also delivering climate justice to those on the frontlines of a crisis they did little to cause.

“Just look at Jamaica” he said, referring to the catastrophic devastation caused last week by Hurricane Melissa.

The clean energy revolution means it is possible to cut emissions while growing economies. But developing countries still lack the finance and technologies needed to support these transitions.

In Brazil, countries must agree on a credible plan to mobilize $1.3 trillion annually in climate finance by 2035 for developing countries, he said.

“Developed countries must honour their commitment to double finance for adaptation to at least $40 billion this year. And the Loss and Damage Fund needs to be capitalized with significant contributions.”

COP30 in Belém must be the turning point – where the world delivers a bold and credible response plan to close the ambition and implementation gaps, he said.

“To mobilize the 1.3 US trillion dollars a year by 2035 in climate finance for developing countries; And to advance climate justice for all. The path to 1.5 degrees is narrow – but open.
Let us accelerate to keep that path alive for people, for the planet, and for our common future,” declared Guterres.

Meanwhile New research by Oxfam and CARE Climate Justice Centre, finds developing countries are now paying more back to wealthy nations for climate finance loans than they receive- for every 5 dollars they receive they are paying 7 dollars back. 65% of funding is delivered in the form of loans.

This form of crisis profiteering by rich countries is worsening debt burdens and hindering climate action. Compounding this failure, deep cuts to foreign aid threaten to slash climate finance further, betraying the world’s poorest communities who are facing the brunt of escalating climate disasters, says the joint report.

Some key findings of the report:

• Rich countries claim to have mobilized $116 billion in climate finance 2022, but the true value is only around $28-35 billion, less than a third of the pledged amount.
• Nearly two thirds of climate finance was made as loans, often at standard rates of interest without concessions. As a result, climate finance is adding more each year to developing countries’ debt, which now stands at $3.3 trillion. Countries like France, Japan, and Italy are among the worst culprits.
• Least Developed Countries got only 19.5% and Small Island Developing States 2.9% of total public climate finance over 2021-2022 and half of that was in the form of loans they have to repay. 
• Developed nations are profiting from these loans, with repayments outstripping disbursements. In 2022, developing countries received $62 billion in climate loans. We estimate these loans to lead to repayments of up to $88 billion, resulting in a 42% “profit” for creditors.
• Only 3% of finance specifically aimed at enhancing gender equality, despite the climate crisis disproportionately impacting women and girls.

“Rich countries are treating the climate crisis as a business opportunity, not a moral obligation,” said Oxfam’s Climate Policy Lead, Nafkote Dabi. “They are lending money to the very people they have historically harmed, trapping vulnerable nations in a cycle of debt. This is a form of crisis profiteering.”

This failure is occurring as rich countries are conducting the most vicious foreign aid cuts since the 1960s. Data by the OECD data shows a 9% drop in 2024, with 2025 projections signalling a further 9–17% cut.

As the impacts of fossil fuelled climate disasters intensify —displacing millions of people in the Horn of Africa, battering 13 million more in the Philippines, and flooding 600,000 people in Brazil in 2024 alone – communities in low-income countries are left with fewer resources to adapt to the rapidly changing climate, according to the study.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?’http’:’https’;if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+’://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js’;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, ‘script’, ‘twitter-wjs’);  

By Naureen Hossain
NEW YORK, Nov 7 2025 – The New York City mayoral elections captured the world’s attention with an excitement normally reserved for the United States presidential elections. It all culminated on Tuesday night with Zohran Mamdani’s decisive victory, signaling that hope was emerging after a period of anxiety and uncertainty for the United States. Zohran Mamdani will represent and govern New York City, one of the world’s wealthiest and most high-profile cities.

Since Wednesday morning, my social media has been full of posts from friends and family that don’t live in New York or even in the U.S. celebrating Mamdani’s win as if he had won the mayoral race in their city. Thanks in large part to his successful outreach on social media, Mamdani’s brand and the principles of authenticity that serve as its foundation resonated with people beyond New York’s borders.

Mamdani’s campaign and victory were like a fairytale unfolding in real time. Beginning as a little-known state assemblyman even within his own state, he became a global household name in one year.

Through grassroots efforts and new tactics eschewed by the establishment, his campaign gained traction with a growing coalition defined by its demographic diversity. He was the underdog challenging the current administration with his principles and convictions and even facing resistance from the old guard in his own political party.

In a way, his win reaffirms the myth of the American Dream, where anyone has the freedom and opportunity to pursue a better life. He has done this while presenting a conviction in his beliefs rooted in unity and empathy. He has achieved several historic firsts for the city: the first Muslim mayor, the first South Asian mayor, and the youngest mayor in more than a century.

While his policies for affordable living are integral to his appeal, Mamdani’s background as a Muslim man of Indian-Ugandan origin has resonated with immigrants who made sacrifices to move away from their home in pursuit of a better life. The ideal of the American Dream posits that America is the land where prosperity is still something to be gained, not just inherited. A land that promotes economic prosperity and the protection of civil liberties.

Those sacrifices must otherwise feel in vain; they must also struggle to pay for basic necessities given the high cost of living in New York City. That is perhaps where people connected with Mamdani and his message of hope; people could see that he genuinely recognized their struggles and would have witnessed them himself.

Even in the face of vitriolic rhetoric that targeted his experience, or comparative lack thereof, in relation to his faith, Mamdani did not back down or diminish his identity. Where immigrants may learn to assimilate, Mamdani showed why it is more important than ever to embrace authenticity and all facets of one’s identity.

Now that he will be the next mayor, Mamdani will have the task ahead of him of delivering on his promises to make the city more affordable. But he will also have to prove that his convictions were not just for the campaign. This world capital, the host of the United Nations, could not have asked for a more internationalist mayor.

He is a domestic politician with an international outlook. One can see even within his own family. He is married to a Syrian-American immigrant. Both his parents are cultural and academic figures in their own right.

His father, Ugandan academic Mahmood Mamdani, has taught political science and post-colonialism subjects across universities in Uganda, South Africa, Senegal, and even here at Columbia University.

His mother, Mira Nair, is an Indian filmmaker who has directed popular movies like Monsoon Wedding and Mississippi Masala but has also worked on projects like Still, the Children Are Here, a documentary about the Garo indigenous communities in northeastern India. She produced this film in collaboration with the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

While this reveals the level of privilege that Mamdani descends from, this may also shed light on his awareness of social justice issues. This may also reveal how he defined his campaign with the promise of change and authenticity as an embodiment of New York’s demographic and cultural DNA.

Recent times have been marked by division and uncertainty, which make pre-existing problems much harder to deal with. Even an institution like the UN, which purports to include all communities to set the common agenda for development and prosperity, has been forced to make difficult compromises.

It is struggling within the constraints of limited funding and political will without follow-through due in part to the conflicting interests between member states and other stakeholders. The UN is defined by a principled impartiality. It platforms a diverse range of issues of global interest and advocates for peaceful, inclusive dialogue. Yet it is also restrained from taking firmer principled positions due to member states’ individual interests.

In that respect, the UN and New York have something in common. They are shaped by the member states/communities that make them, and they work as those groups see fit, even if at times it seems that a small percentage holds the greatest influence and determines the fate of the majority.

Perhaps the UN could stand to benefit and learn from a mayor like Mamdani, who has demonstrated that a global outlook on domestic affairs can be conducive. He may remind us that channeling hope and expecting—not just pursuing—the dignity of life can make a difference.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?’http’:’https’;if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+’://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js’;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, ‘script’, ‘twitter-wjs’);