COP30: The 30th UN Climate Change Conference

COP 30 in Belém, Brazil

This year, COP30, the 30th UN climate change conference, takes place from 10th November – 21st November 2025. This year’s conference is being held in Belém, Brazil, in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, 35 years on from the nation’s last COP event, the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.

Buildings as a Key Climate Solution

COP30 marks a significant event in the calendar for those involved in commercial property, as this is one of the first years that buildings are being pushed as a key climate solution. What’s more, the UK government is front and centre, leading the drive for ‘near-zero’ buildings to become the new normal by 2030.

Time Pressure and Paris 2030 Targets

What sets COP30 apart from previous COP events more than anything is time pressure. With just 5 years left for participating countries to achieve their Paris 2030 climate targets, future-proofing against climate change is becoming less of a long-term pledge and more of a near-term action.

UK Climate Commitments

For the UK, this means reducing green-house gas emissions by at least 68% compared by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, with a view to being net zero by 2050. And given the emphasis on building stock in this year’s COP event, the implications for the commercial property sector are significant.

Frameworks: BREEAM & EPC’s

For the property sector in the UK, and indeed more broadly, achieving these targets and future-proofing against climate change tend to take the form of voluntary frameworks like BREEAM, as well as statutory requirements like Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs). Both BREEAM and EPCs are a means of demonstrating commitment to climate preparedness as well as sustainability at large.

The Importance of Sustainability Credentials

As regulators continue to strengthen disclosure requirements, the need for such indicators becomes increasingly important. As sustainability and climate resilience becomes an increasingly important consideration for tenants, assets that lack these sustainability credentials will become less desirable, harder to let; thereby lowering rents achievable and eroding capital value.

Future-Proofing Commercial Property

Owners that address these issues now will reduce and/or remove the risk of obsolescence by providing desirable, future proofed buildings that tenants are willing to occupy.