From endorsement to action at COP30

After an intense first week at COP30, I took a day to explore the forest on the horizon, that had been tantalizing me over the rim of my bowl of muesli every morning. Gliding along the water in a river taxi, watching vultures swoop overhead, bright black and yellow weaver birds busy building their new homes in the trees, and coming face-to-face with a big hairy tarantula, the brief experience was a vivid reminder of the rich ecosystems that underpin all life on Earth, and why protecting the forests and climate is so urgent. That sense of purpose refuelled and propelled me into week two, where our focus began to shift from securing endorsements of the Principles for Responsible Timber Construction to the tougher question of implementation: how do we turn principles into policies, and policies into practice? 

A landmark moment: launching the Acceleration Plan 

To move from endorsements and warm words to real-world impacts, we need specific objectives, and a coalition of people committed to act. That’s why we’ve worked hard with multiple partners over many months to bring the Principles together with other timber-focused initiatives into a unified COP30 Acceleration Plan. 

Navigating the UNFCCC COP universe is not for the faint-hearted; the structures, processes, agendas, and acronyms can feel like a maze designed to defeat all but the most determined. But at its core, the COP30 Action Agenda is focused on moving from negotiation to action, directing the attention of governments, businesses, and civil society towards practical and scalable solutions.

By embedding the Principles for Responsible Timber Construction into such a framework, sustainable wood-based construction is now recognized at the highest level of the COP outputs as a critical lever for delivering construction decarbonisation, forest conservation, and homes that are affordable for people and the planet.  

On Tuesday, after months of working with FAO and the Sustainable Wood for a Sustainable World coalition (SW4SW), Forest and Climate Leaders Partnership (FCLP), and GlobalABC, we presented the Building for Forests Acceleration Plan: a roadmap to scale up forest-positive, low-carbon construction. This plan sets targets the engagement of 30 countries by 2028, unlocking finance for SMEs, and aligning building codes to national timber strategies and climate plans. The setting was a sizeable (and thankfully air-conditioned) conference room packed with energy, and government and civil society stakeholders from 4 continents.

Among the speakers were the Head of the UN GlobalABC Secretariat, senior representatives from the Brazilian Ministry of Cities – who took the opportunity to formally announce the Brazilian Government’s endorsement of the Principles – the Austrian Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Kenya’s Forest Conservation Secretary, and the Mayor of the Brazilian city of Maringá. Their presence underscored the seriousness of this moment and a third screening of the film Our Future: Built by Nature once again emphasised the fact that frontrunners, like our Built by Nature Prize winners, are already applying the Principles in timber building projects around the world.  

Building connections that shape the future 

Ultimately, of course, progress doesn’t come from words and plans, it comes from the actions of committed people. From ministers shaping national policy to mayors driving change on the ground in their cities, implementation depends on motivated and inspired actors who see the opportunity and want to lead. Week two was full of those moments.

Some conversations were brief and fleeting, others long and deeply engaged, but each was a chance to lock in alignment and explore how we can work together to turn aspiration into reality. 

Kenyan government officials offered some of the most compelling commitment with plans to kick off a “national conversation” in January, exploring how timber housing can be integrated into Special Economic Zones where material and design choices can be set by national policy.

A short conversation with Ed Milliband, the UK’s Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero opened the door to follow-up on the endorsement of the Principles announced by UK Special Representative on Climate, Rachel Kyte.

And Costa Rica? They are already ahead of the curve, having already used the Principles to guide the development of new timber building codes. Now they want to share their experience internationally and collaborate with others, including the city of Maringá in Brazil, our second city-level endorser. 

Beyond governments, partnerships deepened with key stakeholders including WWF, FSC and PEFC, whose expertise and networks will be vital in turning Principles into practice, not least in terms of ensuring we set the bar high for sustainable forest management. These conversations represent the building blocks of trust; we need these critical friends to hold us to account, to ensure that the Principles do what they “say on the tin”. Taken together, they signal something important: a growing global alignment and readiness to act. The momentum is real — and now, the challenge is to turn it into measurable impact. 

Going Home, the work begins 

I believe we can say with confidence that COP30 gave the Principles for Responsible Timber Construction the momentum we wanted to see. Now comes the hard work: following through on the commitments to deliver meaningful outcomes, country by country, project by project. As we leave Belém, we do so with three things that make this next phase possible. 

First, we have many more of the people we need – government officials, industry leaders and authoritative civil society actors – aligned and ready to move. Second, we have practical tools to share: this week we launched the Implementation Framework, our free to access, online platform for knowledge, case studies, and insights that can travel across borders. It’s designed to help businesses and governments develop science-based and practice-informed measures for responsible timber construction.

And third, we have the inspiration of real-world examples: our new film Our Future: Built by Nature, which proved a powerful catalyst at COP30 and will be touring internationally next year to keep conversations and commitments alive far beyond Belém. It shows without doubt that we already know how to apply the Principles, all we need to do is apply all of them, everywhere, all of the time; then we will be much closer to reaching our destination of a built environment in harmony with nature. 

We’ve created the conditions for change. The time for that change is now.