Brazilian cities accelerate urban climate action as COP30 implementation legacy consolidates at the local level
One year after COP30, in Belém, cities across Brazil have already begun turning climate commitments into action
Across different regions of the country, mayors are turning targets into projects, transforming transport, waste management, and the use of public funds and preparedness for the impacts of climate change, in a year marked by a super El Niño. Seven Brazilian cities are working to implement climate budgeting. This is a governance system that mainstreams climate commitments into decision-making on policies, actions, and budgets. It assigns responsibility across city departments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build community resilience. To reduce methane emissions from organic waste decaying in landfills, twenty-one subnational governments are developing seventeen waste management projects. Together, these are expected to process over 30,000 metric tons of organic waste per year once implemented. To transform sustainable transport options, twelve subnational governments are working to deploy electric buses and develop active mobility projects. Over $230 million USD has already been mobilised with state and federal support to procure over 200 electric buses. This collective effort embodies the Brazilian spirit of mutirão: joining forces across levels of government, society, financial institutions and international partners to achieve goals that no one could accomplish alone.
Launched one year ago during last year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, the Brazil Mutirão Program is a partnership between C40 Cities and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM), with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, to accelerate climate solutions in Brazilian cities and states. The program aligns closely with one of COP30’s legacies of ensuring that commitments agreed at the conference translate into public policies and action on the ground. To support this, it has engaged over 100 Brazilian cities and state governments to improve subnational access to data and climate finance, and provided direct support to over 50 cities and states to implement high-impact projects in transport, waste, climate budgeting, and climate action planning.
Ana Toni, COP30 CEO, said:
“Climate policy is not just about targets. It is about ensuring clean air, quality public transport, safe and resilient infrastructure, economic opportunities and a fairer future. This is the spirit Brazil is taking to COP31. The only way to leave a liveable planet for our children and grandchildren is to act together, now, through a global, national and local mutirão – a collective effort.”
Among the advances is the transformation of public transport in Brazilian cities, improving air quality, reducing street noise and making journeys more comfortable. More than 200 electric buses have had their procurement formalised, including 100 buses for the Recife Metropolitan Region in Pernambuco, 96 for the city of Belo Horizonte and 27 for the city of Montes Claros. These form part of the nearly 600 electric buses covered in total by projects being developed with technical support from the Brazil Mutirão Program. This is equivalent to approximately one-third of the 1,700 electric buses operating in Brazil in November 2025, when the program was launched.
Ilan Cuperstein, C40 Cities’ Regional Director for Latin America, said:
“The transition to zero-emission fleets is becoming an increasingly established part of public policy in Brazilian cities. Electrifying fleets brings direct benefits for the climate, public health, transport quality and the local economy. The clear message for other cities is that financing is no longer a barrier: proven pathways exist, and a network is ready to support municipalities”.
In waste management, one of Brazil’s main climate challenges is methane emissions caused by the inadequate disposal of food scraps, garden trimmings and other organic waste, which account for around half of the country’s municipal solid waste. When sent to landfills, this waste decomposes and produces methane, a gas that warms the atmosphere around 80 times more than CO₂ over a 20-year period. Projects in the cities of Curitiba, Guaxupé and Maracaju are developing this type of solution. In Benevides, Pará, an initiative links waste management with environmental education across 41 municipal schools, with the potential to reach more than 10,000 pupils. Across the selected projects, approximately 30,000 tonnes of organic waste are expected to be treated each year.
Eduardo Pimentel, Mayor of Curitiba and C40 Cities’ vice-chair for Latin America, said:
“Managing organic waste means transforming our relationship with the environment. By scaling up composting, we reduce methane emissions, cut the volume of waste sent to landfill, and produce fertiliser for urban agriculture and green spaces. This initiative builds on Curitiba’s heritage as a pioneer of waste separation in Brazil and a benchmark for environmental action.”
The program is also assisting cities in creating a governance system that supports integrating climate commitments into planning and budget decisions; city governments can better understand how they already allocate their public funds, identify funding gaps and prioritise resources to address climate mitigation, adaptation and equity projects and initiatives. In Salvador, the Municipal Climate Governance Policy was established in September 2026, integrating climate action into public policies, urban planning and the municipal budget. It also strengthens the governance arrangements for implementing the city’s Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Plan, which has a planning horizon to 2049 and includes the ambition of achieving carbon neutrality by that year. In Campinas, the city government announced this year that, from 2028 on, it will formally identify in its budget the expenditure that contributes to or undermines climate targets. Curitiba signed its climate budgeting decree in October 2026 to integrate climate mitigation and adaptation goals into the municipal budget cycle and to create a committee, led by the Finance Secretariat, to promote its implementation, monitoring, and evaluation, preparing the city for climate impacts and protecting its most vulnerable communities.
Ana Paula Matos, Deputy Mayor of Salvador, said:
“There is no concrete public policy without a guaranteed budget. By establishing our Municipal Climate Governance Policy, Salvador moves to track and prioritise resources in a smart, integrated way to protect those who need it most and the city’s most vulnerable areas.”
The program also supports 11 cities across the Amazon region to strengthen climate planning: six are developing Local Climate Action Plans (PLACs), two are advancing sustainable mobility projects, and three are working on waste management initiatives. Climate planning helps each municipality understand its risks, identify its most vulnerable people and areas, and decide where to start. To support this process, cities have been using the City Climate Compass, an artificial intelligence tool that brings together information on emissions, risks and vulnerabilities to help local officials compare and prioritise actions. One of these cities is Belém, in Pará, which hosted the conference last year and is now working to improve sustainable urban mobility through the revitalisation of its historic centre under the Belo Centro project.
Igor Normando, Mayor of Belém, said:
“People living in the Amazon need to have a voice in decision-making and see the results in their own communities. For Belém, tackling climate change means supporting those affected by flooding, expanding green spaces and improving conditions for people who travel across the city every day. This is the perspective guiding our efforts to advance climate planning and projects such as Belo Centro. Our commitment is to turn this agenda into tangible improvements, particularly for those who need them most.”
Coordination between different levels of government is central to this legacy. Climate commitments gain strength when the federal government, states and municipalities coordinate financing, planning and delivery in line with their respective responsibilities. In the state of Pernambuco, the electrification of public transport in the Recife Metropolitan Region brings together federal funding, coordination by the state government, the operational expertise of the metropolitan consortium and participation from municipalities. With technical support from the Brazil Mutirão Program, teams aligned the vehicle purchases with routes, bus range and charging infrastructure, enabling progress towards the procurement of 100 electric buses and planning for their phased entry into service.
In the state of Espírito Santo, the sustainable urban mobility project developed in the city of Serra will be expanded by the state government to other municipalities. Alongside emissions reductions, it will incorporate adaptation measures based on tree planting, showing how solutions can evolve to meet local needs. In the state of Rio Grande do Sul, reconstruction following climate disasters highlights the importance of coordination with municipalities and transfers of federal funding to respond to impacts and strengthen resilience. These priorities connect with projects supported by the programme in cities like Caxias do Sul, Porto Alegre and the state’s food distribution centre (CEASA-RS), which help sustain climate action across the state.
Hélinah Cardoso, Head of Engagement for the Brazil Mutirão Program:
“Climate challenges do not respect administrative borders. When we connect local governments’ implementation capacity with policies, programs, and funding from the state and federal governments, we leverage structural projects that previously seemed impossible. This multilevel governance is the true engine in combating climate change and protecting people’s lives.”
These advances show how COP30’s legacy is being carried forward through local decisions across Brazilian cities. Coordination between all levels of government and technical partners helps accelerate projects and strengthen local governments’ ability to turn climate targets into concrete action.
