COP30 Outcomes, the Amazon & the Rise of the Bioeconomy with Author, Tim Christophersen, VP Climate of Climate Change at Salesforce
COP30 Outcomes, the Amazon & the Rise of the Bioeconomy with author, Tim Christophersen, VP Climate of Salesforce
In this episode of Constructive Voices, Jackie is joined again by Tim Christophersen, Vice President of Climate Action at Salesforce and author of Generation Restoration. Fresh back from COP30 in Belém, Tim shares why – out of roughly 15 COPs that he has attended – this one felt like a genuine turning point for climate, nature, and the emerging bioeconomy.
Drawing on decades of experience inside the UN system and now in the private sector, Tim takes us behind the headlines – beyond disappointment over the lack of fossil fuel phase-out language – into the real energy that’s building around solutions, especially in and around the Amazon.
He talks about dawn boat rides past parrots and agroforestry plots, industrial-scale ecosystem restoration on degraded pastureland, and the quiet revolution happening in food, finance, and cities. At the heart of it all is one simple shift: treating nature as core infrastructure, not decoration.
TUNE INTO TIM AS HE TALKS ABOUT SOME OF THE COP30 OUTCOMES
“For the first time at a COP, I had the feeling that the excitement about building something new is bigger than the anxiety about dismantling the old, extractive, unsustainable economy.” Tim Christophersen
Photo credit: Deposit Photos
COP30 Outcomes – Listen To The Podcast To Fully Understand
- Why COP30 in Belém, Brazil, felt different from previous climate summits – and why Tim sees it as a pivot point rather than just “another COP”.
- How Brazil used the location – right in the Amazon – to showcase a new kind of bioeconomy, from deforestation-free cattle to forest-based products and restoration concessions.
- What the new long-term forest finance facilities, including the Tropical Forests Forever concept, could mean for paying countries to keep forests standing.
- The rise of ecopreneurs and large-scale restoration projects turning degraded pasture into thriving forests – powered by carbon markets and better tech.
- Why Tim believes the real story now is building something new, not just fighting the old fossil-fuel system.
- How cities like Paris and Singapore are quietly proving that climate action can make daily life better – cleaner air, more green space, healthier people.
- What it means to see food and regenerative agriculture as the frontline of the bioeconomy, from Amazonian superfoods to local, seasonal diets in Europe.
- How “stubborn optimism” survives after yet another COP without a fossil fuel phase-out.
Photo credit: Deposit Photos
COP30 Outcomes: Important Takeaways
1. COP30 as a turning point – not because of the text, but because of the energy
Tim is honest: on paper, the final agreement from Belém is still too weak on fossil fuels. But he argues that this COP felt different. The excitement around building a new economy with nature at its core was finally bigger than the frustration of pushing against the old one.
In his words, the real story is no longer just “stopping bad things”, but actively creating a better, richer, more beautiful future.
2. The Amazon as a live classroom for the bioeconomy
Belém was a deliberate choice. Brazil wanted negotiators, business leaders and activists to experience the Amazon as a neighbour, not an abstract concept.
Tim describes how, just outside the conference centre, you find:
- A cattle sector under pressure to become genuinely deforestation-free.
- Large areas of degraded pastureland are being lined up for ecosystem restoration.
The outlines of a new bioeconomy are emerging, where forests are valued for the wealth they generate while standing, not just when they’re cleared.
Some COP30 delegates take a river trip across Belem. Photo by Tim Christophersen
For many delegates, a short boat ride suddenly connected the negotiation rooms to real people, real landscapes and real solutions.
3. Tropical Forests Forever and the new face of forest finance
Tim breaks down the logic behind the new long-term forest finance facilities discussed and launched around COP30. Instead of short project cycles and one-off grants, the idea is to create large, stable pots of capital whose returns can be used to pay countries year after year for protecting tropical forests.
The ambition is big: to move from fragmented projects to durable, predictable finance that can support Indigenous peoples, local communities and national governments over decades. Tim is cautiously optimistic – he sees this as “only a start”, but a vital one.
Amazon’s largest forest restoration project: MOMBAK is a winner of our first round of projects for the Symbiosis Coalition. Photo by Tim Chiristophersen
The photo above is from Tim’s field trip to the Mombak project (https://mombak.com/), one of the winning projects of the Symbiosis Coalition‘s first RfP
4. Ecopreneurs and industrial-scale restoration
One of Tim’s standout experiences in Brazil was visiting a young restoration company already operating at industrial scale. Think thousands of hectares of degraded pasture being replanted with native species, supported by nurseries, machinery, trained workers and good science.
For him, this marked a shift from restoration as a nice pilot project to restoration as a real industry, employing people and changing landscapes at speed.
5. The future of food is wildly diverse
On a forest walk, Tim reflects on the fact that there are thousands of edible plant species in the Amazon, while our global food system depends on only a handful of major crops.
He argues that the bioeconomy of the future is not just about new materials and carbon credits – it will transform food:
- More diverse crops and agroforestry systems.
- More regional and seasonal diets.
- Better logistics and digital tools to connect producers and consumers.
He links this directly to what’s already happening in regenerative agriculture across Europe and beyond.
“Our Western diet relies on roughly 12 major species, while across the Amazon there are around 4,000 edible plant species. That mismatch in food-system diversity is a huge opportunity for a new kind of bioeconomy.”
6. Nature as infrastructure – a message for finance ministers
Drawing on his book Generation Restoration, Tim makes a clear case for treating nature as essential infrastructure:
- Forests, wetlands, mangroves and soils provide clean water, flood protection, cooling and resilience.
- Investments in restoring and protecting these systems should sit alongside roads, bridges and energy grids in national infrastructure plans.
- Private investments in nature are growing, but they need strong policy signals and clear rules to scale.
Tim’s book, “Generation Restoration”
If he had five minutes with finance ministers, Tim says he would ask them to put nature visibly into their core budgets, not just into environment line items.
7. Cities and the built environment: nature as default, not decoration
For mayors, planners and developers, Tim’s message is very practical:
Look at the cities where people now love to live – they nearly always have more trees, more parks, more water, more nature woven into everyday life.
Urban nature is not just for beauty. It cools heat-stressed neighbourhoods, reduces flood risk, cleans the air and supports physical and mental health.
Singapore aerial view. Photo by Deposit Photos.
Nature-based solutions in the built environment should be seen as hard-working infrastructure, not “nice greenery” to be cut when budgets are tight.
He believes that building codes, planning rules and investment criteria can all be quietly rewritten to make nature the default option.
8. Greenwashing, greenhushing and getting the narrative back
Tim doesn’t shy away from concerns about greenwashing in forest and restoration projects. There have been poor-quality carbon credits and bad projects. But he stresses that behind the headlines is a much larger wave of serious, well-designed initiatives.
He also warns about “greenhushing”: companies that are doing genuinely good work, but staying silent because they fear being attacked for not being perfect. That silence has a cost – it slows down the transition by hiding examples others could learn from.
9. Stubborn optimism and everyday agency
Despite the gaps in the COP outcome, Tim’s stubborn optimism is very much intact. He encourages listeners to:
Look beyond doom-laden headlines and seek out the many positive stories emerging in every region.
Use their voices as citizens to push for regenerative agriculture, better food systems and nature-positive policies.
Remember that most people do, in fact, want more action for climate and nature – and that this is fundamentally about improving lives, not permanent sacrifice.
For further insights into the outcomes of COP30, we recommend “COP 30 Outcome: What it means and what’s next.”
About Tim Christophersen
Tim Christophersen is a leading global voice on ecosystem restoration, with over 25 years of experience in climate and biodiversity advocacy. He is the author of ‘Generation Restoration’, a roadmap for restoring nature at planetary scale.
His career includes pivotal roles at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and 15 years as a diplomat with the United Nations Environment Programme.
From the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement to the 2022 Global Biodiversity Framework and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030, Tim has been at the forefront of global environmental action. In May 2022, Tim joined the private sector as Vice President of Climate Action at Salesforce, where he drives sustainability initiatives with major corporations and public institutions.
Tim also explores regenerative practices on his family farm in Denmark, continuing his personal mission to restore planetary abundance and beauty.
