On Tuesday, 2nd December 2025, Telum Media hosted a webinar that brought together sustainability and political experts to help corporate affairs, government relations, and communications professionals make sense of a crowded climate agenda. Titled "COP 30 to COP 31: Navigating policy, politics and expectations," the webinar was moderated by Telum Media's John Bergin, and featured Michael Rhydderch from Burson, Simon Banks from Hawker Britton, and Matthew Harris from Barton Deakin.
The webinar opened by grounding the audience in what a COP actually is - the key decision-making forum under the UNFCCC, tasked with advancing the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C. The discussion highlighted how each COP has a distinct focus, how climate and nature agendas are increasingly intertwined, and how the outcomes - captured in dense final texts and declarations - often struggle to keep pace with escalating physical risks and public expectations.
The panel unpacked COP 30 in Belém as a mix of progress and frustration. On the positive side, 122 countries resubmitted their emissions targets and adaptation plans, adaptation finance was tripled, Indigenous representation and activism were more visible, and new linkages between climate, health and gender equality emerged, including Australia's adoption of the Belém Health Action Plan. Yet the failure to secure explicit language on transitioning away from fossil fuels or to embed deforestation in the final text underscored the limitations of consensus-based negotiations and fuelled questions about credibility.
The political context was also central to the discussion. Speakers pointed to the absence of the United States, resistance from fossil fuel economies, shifting domestic politics in Australia as energy prices rise, and the way cost-of-living pressures narrow the space for ambitious climate policy even as climate impacts intensify.
Looking ahead, the conversation turned to what all this means for businesses and for COP 31, to be hosted by Turkey with Australia presiding over negotiations and convening a leaders' pre-COP in the Pacific.
Michael stressed that companies cannot wait for perfect clarity from COPs. Instead, he recommends that businesses update transition plans against new national targets, embed climate risk into governance, prepare for more stringent climate-related finance and disclosure expectations, and tell more mature, evidence-based transition stories - avoiding both overreach and silence. The panel urged communicators to choose language carefully in a polarised environment, framing climate action through investment, innovation, competitiveness, and health rather than ideology alone.
Closing the discussion, the speakers noted that while COPs can be messy and imperfect, they remain important moments for setting direction, breaking inertia and signalling to markets and communities that the shift to a low-emissions, climate-resilient economy is not optional - it is already under way.