This year’s COP30 climate conference will take place in Belém, Brazil, in the second week of November.

For many years, overpopulation campaigners have petitioned conference organisers, insisting that population growth be included in the agenda based on it’s direct relationship to climate change.

The issue of population growth has so far been ignored at COP events, and most fear that it will be overlooked again this year.

Despite the fact that scientists have confirmed the impact of population growth on climate change – as well as the potential to mitigate it by introducing population control measures – human overpopulation still remains a sensitive topic for world leaders and policy makers.

Last week, the European Alliance for a Sustainable Population (EurASP) published an open letter to Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that have been invited to participate at the COP30 conference.

The letter, written by Fons Jena, Chairman of EurASP, begins as follows:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Previous world climate conferences have largely ignored an issue that is crucial to ecological balance: population growth. It is clear that even the slightest progress in efforts to reduce greenhouse gases is immediately offset by an increase in the world’s population. In its sixth report from 2022, Working Group III of the IPCC compared the increase in greenhouse gas emissions to GDP per capita and the corresponding population growth between 1990 and 2019. The calculations show that 34% of the increase in emissions is attributable to global population growth, with the remainder attributable to the increase in GDP per capita. However, several authors have pointed out that the influence of demographic growth has been significantly underestimated here, as the effects of the areas summarized under the term LULUCF (Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry), which are particularly relevant for developing countries, have not been taken into account. It therefore stands to reason that population growth is the greater factor in the increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

However, what is crucial for us is that in countries with high fertility rates, the pressure of a growing population runs counter to all efforts to adapt to the consequences of climate change and weakens their resilience. This applies in particular to food security.

Referring to the climate adaptation fund promised by industrialised countries at COP15 in Copenhagen, Jena goes on to write:

We therefore call for 5% of this climate adaptation fund to be dedicated to measures to support voluntary family planning programs. This comparatively small amount should be sufficient to enable highly efficient measures such as uncomplicated access to contraceptives and appropriate education for women.

Fons Jena’s letter can be read in full on EurASP’s website.

EurASP is a Swiss-based volunteer organisation committed to promoting the importance of sustainable populations.

If you would also like to see population growth on the agenda at COP30, you can contact the United Nations directly by completing this short form.

Submitted by Friends of Retha


The Message is the ground-breaking debut novel by Yan Vana, a thought-provoking and critically acclaimed book that will change the way you think about the human population and the near future of earth.

“What a book! Such an eye opening perspective, utterly true… compelling and extremely accurate. Heaven help us.”