At COP30, the day was supposed to be routine—at least as routine as anything can be at the world’s largest climate conference. Ministers, negotiators, and technical teams were flowing in and out of the country pavilions, one of the Blue Zone’s busiest areas, where events shape global climate ambition.
Then, screams through the main corridor caught participants off guard.
A fire—small but disruptive—unexpectedly broke out inside the pavilion area. Just as quickly as it started, participants cleared toward the exits, the messages amongst delegations began to circulate, and the choreography of an entire climate conference stuttered to a halt. Among these participants was the Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT), which was about to sign an agreement with Vanuatu, a particularly vulnerable Small Island Developing State (SIDS) threatened by climate change.
What happened next was an unexpected signing ceremony taking place between a lone TV showing the Brazilian women’s cup football match between Palmeiras and Ferroviária and freshly baked pão de queijo.
International Climate Action at COP30 Plays Out in a Local Brazilian Bakery
The Vanuatu delegation, including the country’s Minister for Climate Change, Davidson Gibson, the UN ICAT team, and the technical specialists of GHGMI, regrouped at a small local bakery down the street from the conference venue. There, squeezed around tables, they signed an agreement that strengthens Vanuatu’s transparency and compliance reporting under the Paris Agreement—part of a broader push among nations most threatened by climate change to enhance trust and accountability in global climate processes.
It was, in the words of Alissa Benchimol, GHGMI’s project manager, “Peak COP30.” Brazilian-born, Alissa suddenly found herself giving interviews in her hometown after being quoted in EXAME, one of Brazil’s largest publications. “If there’s one thing COP meetings are known for, it’s finding a way forward under unlikely circumstances.”
“This is a project that will begin this month… Normally, this ceremony would be held in the COP room, but now it’s being done here at the bakery,” Alissa said with a go-with-the-flow shrug.
The unexpected setting only amplified the symbolism. While powerful nations negotiate COP presidencies and talk in abstractions about climate timelines, SIDS often must make do with whatever space they are given—sometimes literally. Whether it is on the world’s stage at a COP plenary, a pavilion space flooding due to Amazon rains, or in a local bakery down the street from a venue on fire. In chaos, SIDS keep pushing the global system forward.
And the signing—shaped by circumstance and driven by the people committed to it—highlighted why Vanuatu is at COP in the first place.
Vanuatu: Demonstrating Climate Ambition on the Front Lines
Vanuatu, a chain of more than 80 islands scattered across the Pacific, is one of the most climate-vulnerable nations on Earth. Cyclones routinely rewrite coastlines. Saltwater pushes into villages. Sea levels rise at roughly 6 millimeters (about a quarter inch) per year, well above the global average. 1
Essentially, to live in Vanuatu is to live on the front line of climate change.
Small Island Developing States & Climate Risk
Although SIDS account for less than 1% of global GHG emissions, they bear an outsized burden of climate change. 2
Many SIDS consist of low-lying atolls or narrow coastal strips whose entire populations, infrastructure, and economies are concentrated near the sea. This means effects like sea-level rise, storm surge, and coastal erosion hit especially hard. 3
And the climate risks SIDS face aren’t isolated—they tend to combine and compound. Add sea-level rise to stronger storms and changing precipitation, and you get greater flooding, infrastructure failure, and salinisation of water and soil. 4
On top of that, SIDS often have limited land area, small internal markets, higher import dependency, weaker institutional capacity, and fewer financial resources to respond to shocks. 5 And because these nations are so exposed, even moderate climate shocks can have large developmental consequences—on livelihoods, food and water security, health systems, tourism, fisheries, and infrastructure. 6
Even with a strong will, adaptation is harder for SIDS because of the combination of high exposure and limited resources. The IPCC emphasises that for small islands, the limits of adaptation may be reached earlier than for many larger states. Because of that, several SIDS are already planning for relocation, loss, and damage, and have raised the alarm about the survival of their way of life in international forums. 7
That’s why this year’s COP has been defined by intense discussion about SIDS—represented collectively through AOSIS (Alliance of Small Island States). They’ve been demanding stronger global action, better financing, and full implementation of the Loss and Damage Fund.
This COP cycle has also seen Australia negotiating to host COP31, with a stated emphasis on elevating the priorities of SIDS.
Why Technical Transparency Is a Lifeline for Vanuatu
The government has been doing the demanding, technical work required under the Paris Agreement: strengthening national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories, improving data systems, and building transparent reporting structures. ICAT funds this work; GHGMI implements it on the ground.
The bakery signing marked the beginning of Phase 2, supporting Vanuatu’s newly updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).
Phase I of the project focused on giving Vanuatu what every country needs, but many small islands lack: a strong, self-sustaining system for understanding and reporting its own emissions. To build national expertise, Vanuatu’s technical team completed GHGMI training on the same IPCC methods used by larger countries, providing a strong foundation. They then participated in hands-on workshops covering everything from national systems design and data quality to sector-specific methods across energy, waste, agriculture, and industry.
This work supported the creation of Vanuatu’s first comprehensive GHG inventory manual and a formalized set of national system guidelines—tools that help the country run a transparent, inventory system built to last. Perhaps most importantly, Phase 1 helped shift Vanuatu toward establishing a national core group of GHG experts, a change officials described as transformational for coordination, ownership, and long-term sustainability.
For Phase II, Vanuatu and ICAT committed to increasing ambition and transparency. What makes this work so important is that it’s not symbolic; it’s survival.
A Defining Moment for Climate Action at COP30
In the end, the bakery signing was more than a last-minute change of venue. It became a moment that revealed the human heart of climate diplomacy—a reminder that genuine progress often emerges in unexpected places, shaped by people committed to moving forward despite the disruptions around them.
For Vanuatu and other small island states, that determination is more essential than it is symbolic. And on this day in Belém, the moment captured something fundamental: SIDS are not waiting. They cannot wait. And their partners, including GHGMI, are ready to help them push forward. They will advance climate action wherever they must—even if the room is on fire and the only space left is next to the pastry counter.
- https://www.pacificclimatechangescience.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/15_PCCSP_Vanuatu_8pp.pdf
- View more information about SIDS via NDC Partnership (https://ndcpartnership.org/knowledge-portal/good-practice-database/small-island-developing-states-sids-state-climate-ambition) and the UNDP (https://climatepromise.undp.org/news-and-stories/small-island-developing-states-are-frontlines-climate-change-heres-why)
- https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/outreach/IPCC_AR6_WGII_FactSheet_SmallIslands.pdf
- https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/chapter/chapter-15
- https://climatepromise.undp.org/news-and-stories/small-island-developing-states-are-frontlines-climate-change-heres-why
- https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/outreach/IPCC_AR6_WGII_FactSheet_SmallIslands.pdf
- https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Chapter15.pdf
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