By Thiago Jesus, Indigenous Projects Manager at People’s Palace Projects
November 2024 –
Thiago Jesus, our Indigenous Projects Manager, worked as a consultant for Brazil’s Ministry of Culture to organize panels at the International Seminar on Culture & Climate Change, held during the G20 Culture Meeting in Salvador, November 2024. This article, originally published (in Portuguese) on Mídia Ninja, reflects his insights from the event.
Climate science has long warned that a global temperature increase beyond 2°C will have dire consequences for the planet’s ecosystems and our survival. Despite this, as long as the social and cultural dimensions remain excluded from climate policies, efforts to address the crisis will continue to fall short. Today’s climate planning, financing, and negotiations rely on dominant, technocratic knowledge systems and cost-benefit analyses that overlook the potential of culture-based climate action.
To achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement by 2030 and avoid catastrophic outcomes, we need an unprecedented systemic transformation. Culture—encompassing arts, heritage, creative industries, and the ways of life of Indigenous and traditional peoples—has a unique capacity to diversify knowledge, reshape education, foster storytelling, communicate urgency, mobilize action, and influence sustainable production, consumption, and lifestyles, all within the framework of social justice.
At COP28 in Dubai, Brazil took a significant step in this direction. Minister of Culture Margareth Menezes launched the “Grupo de Amigos da Ação Climática Baseada na Cultura” group, co-chaired by Brazil and the UAE. This coalition, with over 30 countries, aims to advocate for the integration of culture into the UNFCCC’s climate policy framework. This achievement was made possible by international civil society mobilization. Through the “Global Call to Place Cultural Heritage, Arts, and Creative Industries at the Center of Climate Action,” thousands of cultural advocates from around the world urged their national representatives to join the movement.
As we look ahead to COP30, it’s critical to build on this momentum to secure a political victory for culture. The most effective way to do this is by ensuring that “culture-based climate action” is included in COP30’s final decisions. This would mark the beginning of a consultative process that could lead to a groundbreaking outcome: the establishment of a UNFCCC Culture Work Plan. Such a plan would integrate socio-cultural dimensions into the convention’s technical, scientific, and strategic work, guiding national policies and strategies. Ultimately, this could channel more resources to artists, creative professionals, cultural organizations, and traditional communities leading the charge against climate change globally.
The impacts of climate change are already deeply affecting culture. From the destruction of natural and cultural heritage to the economic losses in creative sectors, and even the erasure of identities and traditional cultures in extreme cases, the damage is profound. Yet culture is not just a passive victim of climate change—it is a source of powerful solutions, with the potential to accelerate climate action and build more just, resilient, and low-carbon futures.
In Brazil, where power outages, unprecedented droughts, and smoke-filled skies have become common, and food insecurity is on the rise, climate denial still casts a shadow over politics. One thing is clear: in favelas, rural communities, and Indigenous lands, cultural practices, the preservation of memory, and the protection of identity are key to climate education and transformation. The social, ancestral, and green technologies used by these communities help protect vital ecosystems and delay environmental catastrophe. But without effective public policies, it’s impossible to safeguard these areas or keep the forests standing.
Culture has a pivotal role to play in both climate mitigation and adaptation, the two pillars of global climate policy. Cultural heritage, including Indigenous knowledge and traditional practices, enables communities to adapt to environmental changes, protect their territories, and offer green, circular, and regenerative solutions. Creative industries, such as fashion, design, music, and film, shape values, lifestyles, and consumption patterns while fostering social cohesion. The arts inspire action, provoke reflection, and help people comprehend the world through storytelling, dialogue, and shared experiences.
But ambition alone is not enough. Legislative and institutional measures are essential, both nationally and internationally. We need policies that guide the decarbonization of the cultural sector, adapt cultural institutions to climate impacts, and create new funding models for the arts. There must be dedicated climate funding for traditional communities and cultural organizations at the forefront of the climate crisis, and cultural actors should be integrated into climate action plans at every level. Strengthening climate education through culture is also critical, addressing key issues such as waste management and urban adaptation.
Time is running out to secure this victory. To keep this possibility alive, Brazil’s negotiators—along with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Environment, and Climate Change—must align with the Ministry of Culture to ensure the necessary decisions are made at COP29 in Baku. This would lay the groundwork for a major cultural victory at COP30. Hundreds of voices in Brazil’s cultural sector are already engaged in this movement, but we need to elevate this issue as a top priority for COP30’s presidency.
After a decade of political setbacks, Brazil is once again emerging as a key global player. Hosting the G20 in 2024, and COP30 in Belém next year, positions the country to lead international discussions and shape critical climate solutions.