Negotiators were divided yesterday on the last day of fire-delayed UN climate talks, as Europe rejected UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) host Brazil’s latest draft agreement which lacks a road map to phase out fossil fuels.
At stake is nothing less than proving that international cooperation can still function in a fractured world — and delivering a text that nudges the planet back toward the critical 1.5°C long-term warming target, despite the absence of the US.
However, the draft unveiled by Brazil did not mention fossil fuels or the words “road map” that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva himself suggested weeks ago.
Photo: EPA
“This is in no way close to the ambition we need on mitigation. We are disappointed with the text currently on the table,” European Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth Wopke Hoekstra said.
French Minister of Ecological Transition Monique Barbut decried it as “an incomprehensible omission at a time of climate emergency.”
About 30 countries had written to the Brazilian presidency on Thursday warning they could not accept a final deal at COP30 that did not include a plan for moving away from fossil fuels.
The letter, drafted by Colombia, stated: “We cannot support an outcome that does not include a roadmap for implementing a just, orderly and equitable transition away from fossil fuels.”
France said Russia, Saudi Arabia and India, along with many emerging economies, were the main obstacles to a COP30 deal on phasing out fossil fuels.
Consensus is needed among the nearly 200 nations at COP30 to land an agreement.
Non-governmental organizations also rejected the draft deal, with Greenpeace urging nations to send it back to the Brazilian chair for revisions.
“Hopes were raised by initial proposals for road maps both to end deforestation and fossil fuels,” Greenpeace climate politics expert Tracy Carty said. “But these roadmaps have disappeared and we’re again lost without a map to 1.5°C and fumbling our way in the dark while time is running out.”
Divisions remain not just over fossil fuels, but also regarding trade measures and finance for poorer nations to adapt to climate change and move to a low-carbon future.
Hoekstra said the EU was “willing to be ambitious on adaptation,” but that “any language on finance should squarely be within the commitment reached last year” at COP29, where developed nations agreed to provide US$300 billion in annual climate finance.
The EU is also fighting resistance led by China and India to its “carbon tax” on imports such as steel, aluminum, cement and fertilizers — measures the UK and Canada are also preparing to adopt.
Negotiations were delayed on Thursday when a fire torched a hole through the fabric ceiling of the COP30 venue, forcing a panicked evacuation.
Nineteen people were treated for smoke inhalation and two for anxiety attacks, officials said.
The venue reopened later on Thursday night.
The cause of the blaze was being investigated, but might have been the result of a short circuit or other electrical malfunction, Brazilian Minister of Tourism Celso Sabino said.
The conference ended yesterday, but was still ongoing as of press time last night.
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