Belém, 9 November 2025 — As COP30 opens in Belém under Brazil’s presidency, the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) is calling for worker protection and decent work to be placed at the heart of climate action.

The summit’s focus on adaptation, forests, and people-centred climate solutions resonates strongly with BWI’s two flagship priorities: defending construction and forestry workers from rising temperatures and extreme heat, and advancing decent work in the Amazon rainforest.

BWI urges governments to make legally enforceable heat-stress protections part of national adaptation plans, guaranteeing workers’ rights to water, shade, rest, and safe work stoppages, and to include these commitments under the Global Goal on Adaptation.

At the same time, BWI and its Amazonian Trade Union Network demand the adoption of a Decent Work Agenda for the Amazon, ensuring that climate finance and forest governance create formal, safe, and fairly paid jobs while halting deforestation and exploitation.

“Workers are not bystanders to the climate crisis. They are the first to feel its heat and the last to be heard,” said Ambet Yuson, BWI General Secretary. “If COP30 is to deliver real solutions, it must guarantee that no worker is injured, sickened, or even dies from heat and that protecting forests goes hand in hand with protecting the people who sustain them”.

BWI’s approach aligns with COP30’s pledge to connect climate policy with real lives and make Belém a turning point for adaptation and resilience.

Together with the ITUC’s global union demands for COP30 for just transition frameworks, public finance for adaptation, and labour rights in all climate decisions, trade unions are calling on negotiators to make this COP the one that delivers for both workers and the planet.

Download:

• BWI Declaration on Just Transition in the Built Environment 
• Amazon Decent Work Program
• BWI Too Hot To Work Campaign and 2025 Adapting to Heat Report