ICCI will coordinate COP30 Cryosphere Pavilion activities, in strong cooperation with various partners, including lead organizing partners for various focus days (as listed below).

The Pavilion will carry forward the cryosphere’s message towards urgent ambition with another strong array of policy-relevant side events at COP30. Our assigned space this year will again combine exhibit, side event and office space in a single consolidated Pavilion in the Blue Zone, and is taking place in coordination with Ambition on Melting Ice Co-chair Iceland. For more information, see the comprehensive COP30 Cryosphere Pavilion webpage.

Breadth is strongly encouraged: scientists, Indigenous peoples, Youth and all those who participate in these side events help raise cryosphere impacts and the need for 1.5°C-consistent NDCs as we head for COP30 in Brazil this fall. 2025 is also the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation (with a strong focus on ties to downstream water resources) and the beginning of the Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences. In recognition of those initiatives, we will focus on the importance of science to inform emissions goals, especially the urgently needed transition from fossil fuels.

There will be six or seven one-hour slots each day, with sufficient breaks to allow set-up of the next event. A full list of this year’s eight Focus Days can be found near the bottom of this page. Instructions for side event applications are directly below.

Proposals for side events should be submitted as emails or word documents by Monday, September 1 (earlier applications most welcome) to Amy Imdieke at amy@iccinet.org with the email subject line: “COP30 Cryosphere Pavilion: Side Event Application”.

August 1                        Side event applications open

September 1                 Application period ends; notification of successful applications begin immediately.

September 19               Last date for notification of successful or reserve status

November 10-21           COP30, Belém, Brazil

Please note that any side event applications received after the September 1 deadline will be evaluated on a space-available basis, given the high demand for side events and limited scheduling room available.

All COP29 Cryosphere Pavilion side events will be livestreamed and saved on ICCI’s YouTube channel.

There is no charge for hosting a side event at the Crysophere Pavilion, though we welcome funding and sponsorship from governments, IGOs, foundations, academic institutions and other stakeholders to ensure a fully inclusive breadth of representation and activities. Sponsors are invited to create Pavilion wall posters as part of the permanent Pavilion exhibit. Given the UNFCCC’s expressed constraints in terms of COP30 accreditation numbers, largely virtual side events are also welcome but we do ask for at least one in-person participant whenever possible.

For more information on logistics in connection with COP29, kindly see the COP29 host website at: https://cop29.az. Please note that at this time ICCI is unfortunately not able to assist with travel, visas, or accommodations.

Learn More about the COP29 Cryosphere Pavilion

Hope for the Cryosphere: Feasible Pathways to 1.5°C Emissions Reductions | Emissions reductions consistent with 1.5°C can prevent some of the worst global impacts from cryosphere loss, with a narrowing window for action. Ambitious 2025 NDCs are critical to ensuring these pathways remain feasible.

Mountain Glaciers and Snow: Healthy Ecosystems or Water Resource Loss | Mid-latitude glaciers suffer near total loss above 2ºC, but preserve some basis for regrowth and stabilization of water and other ecosystem services at 1.5ºC. However, mountain-dependent regions, in particular the Hindu Kush Himalaya, already face challenges today.

Ice Sheets: Choosing Between 3-20+ Meters Irreversible Sea-level Rise | West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse will lead to 4-6m of sea-level rise over time and may have already passed that threshold into irreversible loss, but chances of slowing or preventing its collapse are far better without overshoot of 1.5ºC. In Earth’s past, even 2°C has resulted in 12-20 meters of sea-level rise over time.

Polar Oceans: Stabilized CO2 or Millennia of Acidification | Warming, acidification and freshening in polar oceans and high latitude seas already impacts fisheries and shelled organisms today, because these colder waters absorb CO2 more quickly. Overshoot above 450ppm, which will be breached around 2030 if current annual CO2 growth of 2-3ppm continues, will lead to even larger impacts. These factors increase the invasion of low latitude species and add stress towards (in worst-case emissions) a mass extinction event.

Permafrost Thaw: More Carbon Emissions for Centuries with Overshoot | Carbon emissions released from thawing permafrost increasingly contributes to global warming. Permafrost emissions are already on the order of Japan’s, but overshoot to 3-4°C will introduce a permafrost contribution closer to that of China or the U.S. today. These microbial processes cannot be halted; they continue emitting for centuries after initial thaw.

Sea Ice: Stabilizing Climate or Accelerating Warming if Loss Expands | Antarctic sea ice hit a record low this year, with potential feedbacks to ice sheet loss and global ocean currents. In the Arctic Ocean, ice-free summers will still occur within 1.5ºC; but by 1.7°C, they could become an annual phenomenon. By 2°C, ice-free periods stretching from July to October could occur most years, with feedbacks increasing permafrost thaw and Greenland ice loss, and harming Arctic food chains and communities.

Financing for Mountain and Coastal Regions: Adaptation, or Loss & Damage? | Mountain areas are key for climate adaptation efforts due to their transboundary and global importance, serving as water towers and global biodiversity hotspots. Coastal areas have a similarly high vulnerability to climate change as well. Critical steps forward include leveraging finance, such as finding synergies between mitigation and adaptation projects, from the local to national and regional level.

Thresholds and Tipping Points | Tipping points are critical thresholds where small climate changes can trigger significant and potentially irreversible instabilities in cryosphere regions, leading to accelerated ice melt and cascading global impacts. 

Connections Between Amazonía and Cryosphere | The Amazon rainforest, a vital part of the Earth’s biosphere, and the cryosphere are interconnected through multiple climatic and environmental processes. These connections extend from deforestation, biomass burning, and black carbon production to Andean glacier melt and downstream river flow.

Cross-cutting | If you event relates to Cryosphere Science and Policy but is more cross-cutting, feel free to so designate.

If you have any questions, please reach out to: