COP30, this year’s UN climate change summit, ended with a tenuous agreement that ignored key demands from most countries except one: committing rich countries to triple their spending to help other countries adapt to global warming.
Here are some of the conclusions from the climate summit held in the Amazon city of Belém:
Fossil fuels
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva began the summit by asking countries to reach an agreement on a move to advance their COP28 pledge in Dubai to abandon fossil fuels.
But the idea did not go ahead, as oil-rich Arab nations and others dependent on fossil fuels blocked any mention of the subject. Instead, it created a voluntary plan that countries could join or not.
The result was similar to Egypt’s COP27 and Azerbaijan’s COP29, in which countries agreed to spend more money to address climate dangers but ignored their root cause.
Nearly three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions since 2020 come from coal, oil and gas.
Demand for these fuels is likely to increase by 2050, the International Energy Agency said in a report midway through the COP30 summit that reversed expectations of a rapid shift to clean energy.
Global Climate Unit
The need to demonstrate global unity in climate negotiations was the main topic that countries agreed on, along with the idea that rich countries, which have long polluted, should make most of the effort to solve the problem.
But to reach a final agreement, they abandoned almost all the ambitions they had brought, including stricter mandatory targets to reduce climate-warming gas emissions.
The COP30 presidency regretted the fact that the USA did not participate in the negotiations. The absence of the world’s largest economy, and its largest historical polluter, has emboldened countries with interests in fossil fuels.
Concerns about a process that allows only a few to effectively veto collective agreements have grown stronger, fueling calls for reform.
After Brazil promised a “COP of Truth” that would put countries on the path to action, the omission of any agreed implementation plans was glaring.
China
The country governed by Xi Jinping played a leading role at the summit, but behind the scenes.
The Chinese president did not participate in the negotiations, as usual. But his delegation carried a strong message that the world needs to reduce emissions.
Executives from Chinese solar, battery and electric vehicle companies were introduced to the country’s exhibition hall, one of the first things delegates saw upon entering the sprawling event venue.
China was not the only fast-developing nation in focus this year. The Indian delegation showed more strength in the negotiations, while South Africa presented a climate-related agenda for its own G20 summit on November 22-23.
Forests and indigenous rights
By holding the summit in Belém, a city in the Amazon rainforest, Brazil highlighted the importance of the world’s remaining forest cover to combat climate change, seen as guardians of natural lands.
Many of the participants from across the Amazon and the world felt frustrated at not being heard. They held protests and even clashed with security guards before being thrown out.
The countries announced about $9.5 billion in forest financing, including nearly $7 billion for Brazil’s main tropical forest fund and another $2.5 billion in an initiative for Congo.
But the summit ended on a sour note for many, as negotiators abandoned efforts for a roadmap to fulfill the promise of zero deforestation by 2030 and failed to recognize the protection of their lands.
Attacks on climate science
Although Lula and other world leaders have spoken out against misinformation and denial, the negotiations have done little to combat the U.S. government’s assault on climate science this year.
The summit also contributed to undermining the global consensus around climate science by failing to recognize the IPCC (UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) as the “best available science” to guide policy on climate change and its impacts.
Instead, the final agreement notes the importance of IPCC results alongside “those produced in developing countries and relevant reports from regional groups and institutions.”
And by setting aside fossil fuels and emissions targets, COP30 ignored the alarms raised by scientists.
