Countries agree compromise climate deal at COP30 – but omit mention of fossil fuels

Countries attending COP30, the biggest climate meeting of the year, have agreed to a compromise deal setting out steps to help speed up climate action.

The deal would boost finance for poor nations coping with global warming, but it fails to namecheck the fossil fuels driving it.

As the United Nations summit wrapped up in Brazil, applause masked disappointment in the many weak parts of the agreement.

But what many were celebrating was that they had agreed on anything at all – with countries around the world distracted by conflict and the cost of living, and the United States missing from the talks altogether.

The outlook for COP30 was bleak after two other similar forums this year – on green shipping and plastics pollution – fell apart entirely.

The UK’s Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told Sky News in the Amazon city Belem: “Donald Trump and the United States withdrew from the Paris climate agreement.

“Some people said that means lots of countries are going to [pull out] as well, a domino effect. That hasn’t happened.”

Rather than spelling out the fossil fuel problem, the agreement promises to “accelerate implementation” of existing commitments, nodding to an old promise from COP28 in Dubai.

The UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said: “I cannot pretend that COP30 has delivered everything that is needed. The gap between where we are and what science demands remains dangerously wide.”

Panama negotiator Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez said: “A climate decision that cannot even say ‘fossil fuels’ is not neutrality, it is complicity. And what is happening here transcends incompetence.”

He added: “Science has been deleted from COP30 because it offends the polluters.”

Despite no transition plan being included in the deal, the summit’s president Andre Correa do Lago said voluntary plans on fossil fuels and forests would be mapped out instead.

Next year, hardline Colombia, which is trying to leave its coal in the ground, will host a summit for those interested in the proposed fossil fuel plan.

Each year, the United Nations climate talks bring together world leaders, scientists, campaigners, and negotiators from across the globe, who agree on collective next steps for tackling climate change.

The two-week conference in Belem was a rollercoaster – from indigenous people storming the entrance to demand a greater role, to a brief fire in one of the tents, and sleep-deprived negotiators battling it out over the future of their countries.

COP30 was due to end at 6pm local time (9pm UK time) on Friday, but it dragged well into overtime – not uncommon for the annual, heated talks.

The standoff was between the EU, which was the last one standing on the transition away from fossil fuels, and the Arab Group of nations, including major oil exporter Saudi Arabia, which opposed it.

The impasse was resolved following all-night talks led by Brazil, negotiators said.

The European Union’s climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said on Saturday that the proposed accord was acceptable, even though the bloc would have liked more.

“We should support it because at least it is going in the right direction,” he said.

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COP30 wins

But the summit made gains in other areas.

Climate-vulnerable countries like Jamaica and India will be celebrating a new pledge to triple the amount of cash to help them cope with the impacts of climate change.

Hurricane Melissa, which tore through the Caribbean just before COP30 started, was a reminder that extreme weather is becoming more intense and more expensive.

Brazil’s plan to host COP on the edge of the Amazon rainforest paid off – it raised almost $10bn (£7.65bn) to protect the world’s forests that are fending off climate change – including $6bn for a new investment fund.

And it also recognised and earmarked money for indigenous peoples and other communities that help keep them standing.

Indigenous people defined the image and the tone of the first week of the talks – storming the venue entrance, staging sit-ins and winning new legal rights to some of their land.

Toya Manchineri, of the Manchineri Peoples and Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon, said: “Indigenous Peoples will remain vigilant, mobilized, and present beyond COP30 to ensure that our voices are respected and that global decisions reflect the urgency we experience in our territories.

“For some, COP ends today, for us territorial defence in the heart of the Amazon is every day.”

Campaigners also won a new commitment that the switch to clean energy should be fair to workers and that communities do not lose out.