The Green Machine - Episode 1: COP30

December 3, 2025

Like many of you, we’ve been inundated with post-mortem analyses on the heels of COP30 in Brazil. Restoration Climate is laser focused on markets and risk - two lenses that have been largely absent from many reflections on Belém. So, Restoration’s cofounders, Andy Ertel and Benedikt von Butler, sat down recently to discuss the key takeaways aside from fires, floods, protests, broken air conditioning, and equivocal fossil fuel roadmaps.

COP30 yielded several under-the-radar developments and agreements that are surprisingly favorable for carbon markets. This “quiet pragmatism” may well signal a shift away from mere high-level consensus-driven discussions towards implementation-focused actions by a group of willing countries. The success of these initiatives remains to be seen, but the emergence of new independent coalitions is encouraging.

For your viewing pleasure: