Inside COP30: Thiago Chang on Brazil, Belém, and the Future of Food Systems
As COP30 closed in Belém, new momentum emerged around food systems and collective action. In this interview, TechnoServe’s Thiago Chang shares his perspective from the ground and what businesses could do now to turn that progress into real action ahead of COP31.
As the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) wrapped up in Belém, Brazil, thousands of delegates experienced the Amazon’s heat, humidity, and culture firsthand. The atmosphere felt different. For the first time, Brazil hosted the conference, right in the heart of the Amazon. For many, it was a glimpse into the realities of climate change in one of the world’s most important ecosystems.
For Thiago Chang, TechnoServe’s Operations Director for Strategic Initiatives and this year’s COP representative, seeing the world gather in Brazil meant something deeper. It was personal.
This blog post is based on an interview with Thiago and has been condensed and adapted.
Q: What was it like to participate in a COP hosted in your own country? What was Belém like during the conference?
Thiago: It was a privilege to be at the COP in my own country. It felt familiar in a way that no other COP could have been: because of the language, the culture, the people. I spent time talking to Uber drivers, servers, and people in the city, and everyone kept pointing out how the temperature has changed. Belém is always hot, but many locals told me that during their grandparents’ time, the climate ‘felt normal.’ They said it never got as hot or humid as it does now. So having the conference in the middle of the Amazon, with people feeling the heat and humidity on their own skin, made the reality of climate change harder to ignore.
Belém itself surprised me. It was my first time there, and even though it isn’t a city Brazilians talk about all that often, it really rose to the moment. The city worked hard to prepare over the past two years—improving roads and buildings and refreshing public spaces—and you could feel the excitement everywhere. People from all over the world were trying local foods like tucupi, tacacá, maniçoba, and, of course, açaí, the way it’s actually eaten in Pará, which is very different from the rest of Brazil. Everyone I talked to loved the cuisine. Belém really opened its doors through its food, music, and culture.
And of course, the presence of Indigenous Peoples was everywhere. They were in the negotiations, in the panels, in the protests, speaking for themselves on their own land. For me, that was powerful. These communities have been talking for centuries about using natural resources sustainably, protecting nature, and putting the rainforest first, and only now is the world starting to listen more seriously. Having COP30 in their territory and seeing them front and center was really meaningful.
Q: Did hosting COP30 in Brazil change how the conversations felt or what priorities rose to the surface?
Thiago: Yes. More than just seeing Indigenous Peoples present, Brazil actually put forward policies that reflect what everyone was talking about. One example is the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF). It’s a fund for tropical forest countries aimed at mobilizing $125 billion, and it includes a clause requiring 20% of the funding to go to programs directed to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. That kind of commitment shows that inclusion is becoming part of how frameworks and regulations are actually designed.
Another significant shift was around agriculture and food systems. In earlier COPs, most discussions focused on renewable energy and fossil fuels. Those are obviously important, but in Brazil, the picture is different. Our energy matrix is already very renewable: we have hydropower, solar, and wind. Where our emissions are really concentrated is in agriculture, land use, and deforestation. So hosting COP30 here pushed those issues to the center in a way I haven’t seen before.
Belém had an AgriZone run by Embrapa that was beautiful, full of panels, exhibits, and discussions. In past COPs, you had to walk around searching for conversations about food systems. Here, you couldn’t avoid them. Everywhere you turned, there was a panel or exhibit on regenerative agriculture, land restoration, or sustainable food systems. It felt like a turning point, like agriculture finally had a seat at the main table rather than being a side conversation.
Q: You mentioned food systems as a central issue for the COP30 agenda. Why is it so critical that companies in agriculture and food supply chains engage with climate action now, rather than treating it as optional?
Thiago: First, because agriculture is core to their business. I remember Andrés Gonzales, the president of Unilever Brazil, saying that about two-thirds of everything they source comes from agriculture. You can’t ignore something that fundamental, not for your supply chain, not for your emissions, not for the future of your products. The resilience of their business depends on the resilience of agriculture.
Second, because there are millions of people behind these supply chains. Most are smallholder farmers whose livelihoods depend on finding a stable market for their products. Companies depend on these farmers because their raw materials only exist if farmers stay in agriculture and keep producing the crops that supply chains rely on. It’s the right thing to do and the smart thing to do. It’s good business.
And then there’s the urgency. We’ve already hit the 1.5°C mark. Now we’re talking about whether we end up with four degrees of warming or two and a half. We’re already behind. There are so many tested solutions; we just need to scale them. That’s why it’s great to see companies like Unilever already investing serious money into regenerative soy in Brazil, an ambitious project that TechnoServe is implementing with the aim of transitioning 45,000 hectares to regenerative agriculture practices by 2030, covering up to 90% of the soy footprint of Hellmann’s mayonnaise in Brazil. Instead of waiting for the perfect coalition or the perfect government program, they’re doing it now with what they have. That’s the kind of commitment we need.
Q: You spoke on a few panels about strengthening and de-risking supply chains. Was there one moment or conversation that stood out to you?
Thiago: Yes, a moment that stuck with me happened during a panel with Bayer. Paulo Guerra, the Program Director for Public Institutions at Fundação Dom Cabral (one of Brazil’s top business schools) and the moderator that day, reacted to something I said about TechnoServe’s motto.
I shared that TechnoServe’s work always starts with a social impact mission, supporting farmers to increase their incomes, and that many of the same practices that raise incomes also regenerate soil, increase biodiversity, protect natural resources, and reduce carbon footprints. The moderator reflected on how this approach contrasts with what he was seeing across COP30, noting that many organizations are only now realizing that people must be at the center of environmental action. For him, TechnoServe’s long-standing focus on farmers highlighted an insight that much of the climate community is arriving at today, and it felt like an important recognition of our decades of work.
Overall, the panels I was in felt like real mutirão energy, a very Brazilian idea rooted in collective effort, where people come together around a shared task and move it forward through collaboration and solidarity. At COP30, mutirão was also the guiding principle, and you could feel that in the room. On the Unilever panel, we had representatives from the private sector, government, civil society, and organizations working on standards, and everyone was already contributing from their own perspectives. It felt like a coordinated, practical effort—people bringing what they know, offering what they can, and pushing in the same direction.
Q: Looking toward COP31, what’s one concrete action you hope to see from businesses to translate COP30’s momentum into real progress?
Thiago: I’d really love to see some of the programs discussed at COP30 become reality, especially multi-stakeholder partnerships. At the panels, everyone was seated at the same table: food corporations, traders, input providers, government officials, investors, and research institutions, all discussing openly. But when it’s time to put money on the table, things slow down. If 12 months from now, for COP31 in Turkey, we have real examples of companies collaborating, investing together in projects to transform how we produce our food, or launching joint programs, that would be a huge step. It would unlock more impact investors, philanthropy, and government financing, too.
And personally, I’m already excited for COP32. It’s going to be in Addis Ababa, a place where I’ve lived and where TechnoServe has worked with more than 500,000 coffee farmers. I can’t wait to see COP hosted there. But for now, I really hope agriculture and food systems stay at the center. I hope it’s not a one-year thing. Agriculture finally came through the COP door in Brazil this year, and I hope it stays there forever.
