Countries at the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, have agreed the conference agenda on the opening day, but four of the eight items proposed by delegations were left off and handed to presidency consultations, including disputes over climate finance and trade.

The summit opened on Tuesday, 10 November, in the Amazonian city of Belém, with nearly 200 countries gathered for the 30th UN climate conference, which runs until 21 November. The early agreement on the agenda means formal negotiations can begin on schedule, but the hardest arguments have been deferred rather than settled.

What was left off the agenda

According to the COP30 presidency, the items that did not make the cut include unilateral trade measures, developed countries' climate finance obligations, countries' climate plans and emissions reporting, and the question of whether the world is on track to hold warming to 1.5C.

Those topics will be handled through open consultations run by the presidency. A two-hour meeting on the outstanding items was scheduled for today, and delegates will also discuss them in a plenary session on 12 November, according to COP30's chief strategy and alignment officer, Tulio Andrade.

Four of the eight agenda proposals put forward by parties failed to make the final list. Honduras, Papua New Guinea and Suriname withdrew their proposal on scaling up finance to halt deforestation, while the remaining contested items were parked with the presidency.

Corrêa do Lago takes the chair

Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago was elected president of COP30 at the opening plenary and commended delegations for agreeing the agenda quickly, in what the presidency described as a strong show of consensus for multilateral action.

The official COP30 summary of day one said the swift adoption of the agenda, together with Corrêa do Lago's election, set the tone for a summit the Brazilian presidency has billed as focused on delivery and implementation, ten years after the Paris Agreement was adopted.

The first two days of the summit are themed around adaptation, cities, infrastructure, water, waste, local government, the bioeconomy, the circular economy, science, technology and artificial intelligence.

Finance at the centre of the fortnight

Finance is expected to dominate the talks. The conference is working towards a goal of mobilising $1.3 trillion a year in climate investment by 2035, and developing countries are pressing for grant-based, predictable funding for adaptation and for loss and damage, rather than loans.

A leaders' summit held in Belém last week, attended by more than 140 delegations, set the political tone, with UN Secretary-General António Guterres telling leaders there was no more time for negotiation and that it was time for action.

Delegates are also expected to review national climate plans, known as nationally determined contributions, and to approve around 100 global indicators to track progress on adaptation. With the agenda agreed, negotiations begin in earnest from Wednesday, and the presidency will be judged on whether the deferred items return to the formal talks or remain stuck in consultations.