Climate is Culture: Taking Action Towards COP30

The project Climate is Culture: Taking Action Towards COP30 is a journey leading up to the UN Climate Summit in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025, aiming to highlight the role of culture in climate change discussions. While the connection between culture and climate has been gaining recognition at recent COP conferences, its significance remains underexplored.

People’s Palace Projects (PPP), which has been working on this issue since COP26 in Scotland, is partnering with Amazônia de Pé (AdP) for this initiative. Both organisations have been committed to fostering the intersection of culture and climate by mapping key projects and changemakers, organising festivals, funding opportunities, research, seminars, and other initiatives. With COP30 taking place in Brazil in 2025, this moment offers a crucial opportunity to amplify this dialogue, believing in the power of collective action.

The first stage of the project took place from 11 to 13 February in Alter do Chão, Borari Indigenous Territory, Pará. This region was chosen for its longstanding advocacy for culture as a means of territorial preservation. Santarém, Alter do Chão, and the wider Tapajós region are key areas of action for AdP, working alongside local socio-environmental and cultural organisations, including Indigenous and traditional communities. PPP brings nearly three decades of international experience in cultural exchange projects with Indigenous partners, using art as a research methodology.

The gathering brought together 30 participants, including artists, cultural practitioners, masters of popular traditions, socio-environmental and climate activists, researchers, environmentalists, and communicators—mainly from organisations and communities across the Amazon region. Over the course of three days in Alter do Chão, the group collaboratively developed materials for a global civil society awareness campaign.

The second stage of the project will focus on developing and launching the campaign in a format yet to be determined, with materials distributed across 100 cultural spaces.

Recognising the opportunity presented by COP30 in Belém, the initiative will also produce a statement to be delivered to authorities, outlining key policy recommendations on the role of culture in climate action.