We delivered a clear message at Cop30: the delayers and defeatists are losing the climate fight | Ed Miliband

Stired, exasperating, sleepless. That was what it was like to be part of the Cop30 in Brazil. And yet, more than 190 countries gathered in the Amazon rainforest and reaffirmed their faith in multilateralism, the Paris Agreement and the need to redouble efforts to keep global warming to 1.5°C.

We went to Cop because working with other countries to fight the climate crisis is the only way to protect our home and our way of life. We know that the UK only produces 1% of emissions, which is why, as the Prime Minister said in Belém, our Government is “totally willing” to work with others to reduce the remaining 99%.

We also know that there are enormous opportunities in advancing the transition. That’s why in Britain we are making historic investments in renewable energy and nuclear power, modernizing millions of homes and taking action to protect nature.

It is true that Britain expected more from this COP, including details of how we would accelerate the global energy transition through a deal that explicitly committed to a road map for the transition away from fossil fuels. This didn’t happen because some countries didn’t agree.

Yet on this issue, we have seen the emergence of an impressive coalition of 83 countries from the North and South, supported by more than 140 global businesses and civil society groups. And Brazil will launch a roadmap to help countries abandon fossil fuels and develop clean energy.

This offers a very important lesson: detailed negotiations are important, but the movements we build around them profoundly influence what can be achieved. The roadmap to achieve our goal of halting and reversing deforestation by 2030 provides the same opportunity to advance our global efforts to tackle the natural and climate crises together.

There is also a bigger picture here. This year’s summit was a test of whether, in a time of political challenge, countries would continue to work together on the greatest collective threat we face or whether, with the United States withdrawing from the Paris agreement, there could be a domino effect of other countries leaving. Despite all the challenges, countries have chosen the path of cooperation.

Cop30 is therefore part of the long history of these negotiations which saw the world change its warming trajectory from 4°C around ten years ago to 2.3-2.5°C. Despite this progress, our goal is 1.5°C for good reason: because the science is clear: every fraction of a degree counts to limit the impacts people will face here and around the world. This is why it is important that the world commits to redouble its efforts to achieve this through the Belém Mission to 1.5 and the Global Implementation Accelerator.

Ambition to reduce emissions goes hand in hand with the financing needed to make this possible, including for developing countries. Last year, countries agreed that by 2035 we will need to mobilize at least $300 billion (£230 billion) of climate finance per year for developing countries. This year, as part of our fight against climate change, we agreed that this funding should aim to triple support for building resilience to climate impacts.

Our Brazilian hosts were determined to make this the Implementation Cop – and much progress was made outside the negotiating rooms. This was of course the first Cop in the Amazon, and the UK was proud to work with Brazil in the two years leading up to the summit to help develop the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, which offers an incredibly inspiring solution to global deforestation.

We have also worked alongside Brazil and many other countries on the Global Climate Action Agenda, which aims to build the coalitions of governments, businesses, cities and civil society needed to accelerate action on the ground – on issues ranging from reducing methane emissions to phasing out coal to unlocking clean energy investment.

Thousands of UK businesses have been involved in these initiatives. Our researchers, universities, mayors and others were also deeply engaged on climate issues during this Cop. And the UK played a key role in delivering the final results of this summit, because of its leadership on climate at home and abroad, and the extraordinary competence and determination of its civil service.

The message from Belém was clear: despite the noise, clean energy and climate action remain the foundation on which the global economy is remaking and rebuilding itself. We face the march of time and massive global forces that could slow or stop action. Faced with this opposition, multilateralism is our best hope. For all his faults, Cop reaffirmed the belief of the vast majority of the world in this ideal. Those who would like to deny or prevent any action do not win the debate, they lose.