With the COP30 climate summit’s success threatened by the high prices of rooms on the official accommodation platform, residents of the Brazilian host city of Belém have told Climate Home news that restrictions for listing their properties are stopping them renting out cheaper rooms to delegates. A survey carried out by the UN in early August found that the vast majority of government delegations – particularly from poorer countries – had yet to book rooms just a few months before the start of the November talks. Most cited expensive prices. In response, some influential negotiators have called for the talks to be moved to a bigger city with more accommodation. But the COP30 presidency team has pushed back, insisting the event will be held in Belém on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, a vital store of carbon that helps keep global warming in check. On the official COP30 accommodation platform, prices for rooms start at around $240 a night – with a minimum stay of ten nights. But Climate Home interviewed three accommodation providers in and around the Amazonian city who are struggling to find a way to rent out rooms at much cheaper rates, starting at $54 in one case and $100 in another. All three have not listed their properties on the official platform because restrictions put in place by the COP30 presidency mean they are not permitted to do so directly. 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CRECI-PA is funded by membership fees from real estate agents – and the COP30 spokesperson said agents must be “up to date with their obligations” to use the COP30 platform. There are currently “more than 20” such agencies, the spokesperson said. The restrictions are intended to “reduce the so-called transactional cost”, as “working with many very small agencies increases the risk and complexity of managing the platform, since each would have access to add and remove properties”, the spokesperson explained. COP bureau meeting ends in stalemate as Brazil insists Belém logistics can work Small providers have to pay one of these agencies to list on their behalf. They told Climate Home this was too expensive and there is no way of knowing which agencies are authorised to list on the platform. One – who wanted to remain anonymous – warned of fraud, with companies falsely claiming to be registered. The COP30 spokesperson said the list of authorised agencies was “not available”. The three providers – Andreia and Rodolfo Herrera who own a nine-apartment building near the COP30 venue, Alcides Moura who runs the 17-room Hotel COP30 and the provider on Mosqueiro island who wanted to remain anonymous – have listed their properties instead on commercial platforms like Booking.com and Airbnb. Rodolfo and Andreia Herrera in one of the nine apartments they own in Belém (Photo: Alice Martins Morais) There they have had some limited success. The Herreras have rented some of their nine apartments out to a group of foreigners working for an NGO and are in discussions with another group of delegates from Brazil’s Amazonas state. All three still have rooms to rent. Many COP30 delegates are unable to book these properties as their employers – governments, companies and non-governmental organisations – have blanket rules against using Airbnb and Booking.com, with governments particularly fearful of being tricked into giving taxpayers money to scammers who use these sites. In contrast, those controlling the purse-strings at these large organisations see the official accommodation platform as safer, as it comes with the implicit endorsement of the Brazilian government and United Nations. Andreia Herrera said that being excluded from the accommodation platform was “unfair”. She usually charges $32 a night for an apartment, six kilometres from the COP30 venue, but has upped the price to $54 for the summit – still far cheaper than on the official platform. The accommodation provider on Mosqueiro said that the island, an hour’s drive from the COP30 venue, had “an amazing quantity of accommodations” but that everyone is facing the same problems, unable to list on the official platform. A room in Hotel COP30, where the average rate is $100-200 a day per person (Photo: Alice Martins Morais) On the other side, a negotiator from an African government – which does not allow its representatives to claim expenses for rooms booked through Airbnb and Booking.com – told Climate Home this week that their department had still not booked accommodation. Relaxing the restrictions “would help”, he said. Defending the rules, a COP30 spokesperson said the Brazilian government is relying on “accredited real estate agencies” as they “can validate the properties and be legally responsible for them – especially as some of the listings in Belém are first-timers, and don’t have any previous reviews”. The advice to smaller accommodation providers is to consult with CRECI to find an agency to partner with. COP30 president prepares for clash of views on how to respond to NDCs The Brazilian government has offered to make 2,500 individual rooms available to government negotiators at between $100-600 a night. Least-developed countries and small island developing states were offered 15 rooms each at between $100-200 a night, with all other countries offered ten rooms at $230-600 a night. Some government negotiators have described these prices as still too high. Brazil remains firm in insisting that the COP30 negotiations and the summit of world leaders preceding it will not be moved from Belém. But some unofficial COP30 events, especially those involving businesses and sub-national governments, will be held in other, larger Brazilian cities just before COP30 begins. They include the C40 World Mayor Summit in Rio de Janeiro and the UN Principles for Responsible Investment conference in São Paulo. The post Bureaucracy stops Belém residents from listing rooms on official COP30 platform appeared first on Climate Home News.

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