COP30: Outcome climate summit uncertain due to disagreement over fossil fuels

The outcome of the UN climate conference in Brazil, which should end this evening, is highly uncertain due to disagreement over fossil fuels. Belgium, together with about thirty other countries, is threatening to block the final agreement if no plan to phase out fossil fuels is included.

Today is the last day of the UN climate conference in Belém. The negotiators hope to be able to issue a final statement later tonight, but for the time being, an agreement still seems a long way off due to disagreement over the phasing out of fossil fuels. These are responsible for the lion's share of global warming.

On Friday morning, the COP30 presidency published a new version of the negotiation text, which makes no mention of a transition away from fossil fuels. This plays into the hands of oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia and Russia, and countries that use a lot of oil, such as China and India.

However, a group of around thirty countries, including Belgium, already sent a letter to COP30 president André Corrêa do Lago on Thursday evening, stating that they would not support a final text without a global roadmap to phase out fossil fuels.

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The transition away from fossil fuels was actually already decided at COP28 in Dubai in 2023. Last year, however, that reference was left out of the final text. At this climate summit, new momentum was created, driven by Colombia and Brazil. More than eighty countries, including Belgium, support the initiative.

European Commissioner for Climate Wopke Hoekstra has already made it clear that the current compromise proposal will not be accepted by the EU “under any circumstances”. The EU wants the final text to be more ambitious, particularly with regard to the shift away from fossil fuels.
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^{The plenary hall of COP30 in Belém, Brazil © PHOTO Oswaldo Forte/Fotoarena/Sipa USA}

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