October 9, 2025

Every decade brings new challenges, and today we stand at a critical crossroads. As COP30 approaches, the world’s ice-covered regions are warning us that if we fail to act now, we may soon cross tipping points from which there is no return to life as we know it.

In November 2025, world leaders and negotiators will gather in Belém, Brazil, to decide the next chapter of the global climate response. Yet, the geopolitical landscape has grown more complex: international tensions, security concerns, and re-nationalisation pressures risk diverting attention and resources away from rapid climate mitigation and adaptation. In these uncertain times, the voices of the sciences that observe the Earth’s frozen regions must speak with renewed clarity and urgency.

Building on the 2024 initiative “An S.O.S from the Poles to World Leaders at COP29”, BEPSII, together with ASPeCt, CATCH, and PACES, has revised and expanded the open letter for COP30. 

The open letter will circulate for endorsement throughout October 2025 and will be released publicly ahead of COP30, with a presentation at COP30. 

We invite institutes and organisations concerned about the cryosphere to join this call.

How to endorse:

1. On behalf of your institute or organisation: Read and endorse the open letter here: https://forms.gle/Z6UkhSCijF6tvsSaA if you have the right to do it.

2. As an individual: Forward this message to the decision-maker(s) of your institute/organisation who can undersign the Open Letter; Share this message through your networks, media contacts, and at upcoming events; Amplify this call to action at national, regional, and global scales.

Time is a luxury we don’t have. We must unite now, across disciplines, nations, and generations, to press world leaders into action. The cryosphere may be out of view for many, but its signals reach deep into global climate and the human future.

For any questions, please contact:

Dr. Letizia Tedesco [E: Letizia.Tedesco@environment.fi; Ph: +358 295 251 686].

Dr. Jacqueline Stefels [E: jstefels@rug.nl; Ph: +31 6 311 95 202].