Immediate endorsement shows harmony between the 194 countries, plus the European Union, in favor of advancing the conference’s priority agendas, which include climate financing, energy transition and global adaptation goals
The first day of the 30th, which officially began this Monday (10), ended with a consensus between countries on the official agenda of the climate conference, in (PA), and with pressure from the entity to end fossil fuels, a topic that will be one of the highlights of COP30. “I want to thank the delegations for the fantastic agreement they reached last night. This understanding will allow us to start working intensively from today and explain to the world why these additional themes really matter”, said the president of COP30, Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago.
The approval of the agenda is one of the first steps of every COP, and the immediate approval shows the harmony between the 194 countries, plus the European Union, in favor of advancing the conference’s priority agendas, which include climate financing, energy transition and global adaptation goals. With the agenda approved, negotiations move to the “blue zone”, the restricted space where diplomats from almost 200 nations meet to review, word for word, the texts of climate agreements. In total there will be more than 100 documents.
COP30 takes place amidst the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, which suffers from delays in compliance with NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions). Last week, a UN study analyzing the NDCs presented so far showed that the goals assumed would only be able to reduce emissions by 10% by 2035. Ending the use of fossils is the key point to solving the climate crisis. And, although it is not included in this year’s COP agenda, there is pressure from some countries and civil society for it to be discussed. “We have already agreed that we will transition away from fossil fuels. Now is the time to focus on how to do this in a fair and orderly way. Focus on what agreements to make to accelerate the tripling of renewable energy and the doubling of energy efficiency,” highlighted Simon Stiell, UN climate chief.
Stiell also highlighted the need for cooperation between countries to begin implementing measures already agreed at previous summits, reinforcing that countries outside multilateral agreements to combat global warming will have higher inflation, in an indirect message to the United States, which will leave the Paris Agreement – a global pact to curb the climate crisis – by order of US President Donald Trump. “Every action to build resilience helps save lives, strengthen communities and protect the global supply chains that all economies depend on. This is the growth story of the 21st century – the economic transformation of our era,” he declared.
A report published in early November by UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) shows that emissions of greenhouse gases have reached a record, with more than 575 billion tonnes being sent to the planet in 2024. In his speech, Stiell also highlighted the need for the world to increase renewable energy sources and increase energy efficiency, but did not mention the possibility of expanding the production of biofuels, such as ethanol. The Brazilian government has tried to include the topic in the discussions, having even mentioned – in a pre-COP document – the need to quadruple the production of biofuels by 2035.
The executive secretary also stressed that the world needs to put into practice the “Roadmap from Baku to Belém for 1.3 Trillion” – a document prepared by the presidencies of COP30, in Belém, and COP29, in Azerbaijan, to leverage climate financing and reach the figure of US$ 1.3 trillion to be paid by rich countries to combat climate change. A study launched at the Brazilian Academy of Sciences last Wednesday, and which will be presented at the Planetary Science stand at COP30, shows that Brazil is fully capable of achieving net-zero emissions ten years ahead of the target.
Victim of successive environmental disasters, most notably the tornado in Paraná, which left six dead and more than 700 injured, the Brazilian government promised to expand the coverage of the Natural Disaster Monitoring and Alert Center (Cemaden). By 2026, the center that currently monitors 1,133 municipalities will start monitoring 1,942 cities – with this, coverage will reach 70% of the Brazilian population. Cemaden is the main disaster monitoring body in Brazil and has already experienced successive crises of lack of funding and labor shortages. In addition to expanding Cemaden, the government is working to make the data that currently exists available to states and municipalities. The idea is that entities use this information to develop policies to adapt to climate change.
