The United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP, can be described, with each edition, as both a failure and a success. Each year brings small advances and minor victories against the resistance of CO2-emitting countries.₂...or oil producers, or—as in our case—dependent on tourism, which is one of the most polluting economic activities due to its high consumption of fossil fuels. Some victories are also usually achieved against the denialist rhetoric emerging worldwide, fully aligned with the populism of the far right, which extracts natural resources and public funds. However, these victories, conquests, and advances are timid, sometimes Pyrrhic, compared to the major points of the Paris Agreement on climate change and the 2030 Agenda that remain pending, postponed, or excluded from a consensus declaration, year after year.

"I will create two roadmaps, one to halt and reverse deforestation, and another for a just, orderly, and equitable transition away from fossil fuels." The president of the UN climate summit, COP30, Brazilian André Correa do Lago, drew a standing ovation during the summit's final plenary session when he made this announcement. But not everyone was happy. This was the solution Correa himself found to get the final COP30 text approved, the so-called Mutirão (collective effort in Brazilian Portuguese), without mentioning that 82 countries were demanding a "roadmap" to end the fossil fuels that have generated the climate crisis we are experiencing.

The UN climate summit, COP30, being held in the Brazilian Amazon, is entering its final day with the prospect of extending, as always, hours or days beyond its scheduled end. Negotiations for the final text are once again tense after the latest draft, released this morning, removed any mention of a possible "roadmap" for phasing out fossil fuelsA total of 36 countries, including Spain, have sent a letter to the Brazilian presidency of the summit warning that the new text "does not meet the minimum conditions." All of these governments, and others that signed an appeal to adopt this roadmap, are threatening to block the final decision until the mention of this roadmap is reinstated in the text. The initial draft of the final agreement, presented last Tuesday, offered several possible options on this point, including asking all states to establish "just, orderly, and equitable transition roadmaps, including progressively overcoming their dependence on fossil fuels." The other two options were much less ambitious, but in the new text published this Friday, the entire point (without multiple options) simply repeats the objective set by the Paris Agreement and "encourages" states to strive for "clean-zero emissions by mid-century." This new text for the Mutirão (what does it mean community effort The final declaration (in Portuguese), as they have called it, is "very disappointing," according to European Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, who also signed the letter sent to the presidency. In this letter, the countries demanding an end to fossil fuels warned that they will not support a COP30 outcome that does not include this roadmap, criticizing certain "emerging narratives" that portray them as obstacles to the agreement. "The problem arises when a package of final documents is presented that omits essential elements with the expectation that it will be accepted unconditionally, reflecting only what is acceptable to a few," they criticized. In addition to Spain, the letter was also signed by Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Iceland, Luxembourg, Ireland, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Tuvalu, the United Kingdom, and Vanuatu.

Images of the fire that broke out this Thursday at the COP30 venue, the UN climate summit in Belém, Brazil.

A fire broke out at the venue where the UN climate summit, COP30, in the Brazilian city of Belém, A fire forced the evacuation of the area where negotiations were taking place on Thursday. The flames spread in a section of the so-called Blue Zone, administered and controlled by the United Nations, where the meeting rooms and various pavilions of the countries and international organizations participating in the meeting are located. Security personnel quickly isolated the area of the fire and ordered the evacuation of the dozens of people present through the emergency exits, which generated tense moments, according to the EFE news agency. Brazil's Minister of Tourism, Celso Sabino, reported that the fire was brought under control in a matter of minutes and that no one was injured. He also said that the origin of the fire is still being investigated, but that everything points to it having been "probably a plugged-in cell phone." Some reports suggested it may have originated in the Indian pavilion, but this has not been confirmed.

Eighty-two countries are calling for a global roadmap to phase out oil, gas, and coal. Representatives from all these governments have joined forces to lobby at the UN Climate Summit. COP30, which is being held these days in the Brazilian Amazonand have demanded that the final text of the meeting include this commitment. A first draft of the summit's final text, called Mutirão (what does it mean community effort (in Portuguese), which includes a possible commitment to the phase-out of fossil fuels, but is still too open-ended.

The European Union and the United States have burned more fossil fuels in 2025 than the previous year and have increased their CO₂ emissions, contrary to the downward trend of the last two decades. This is revealed in the annual Global Carbon Budget 2025 report, an analysis of CO₂ emissions prepared by the Global Carbon Project, which is being presented on the occasion of the Brazil climate summit, COP30, and which, for the first time, projects emissions for 2025. According to the study, the world as a whole will emit 1.1% more CO₂ in 2025 than in 2024, continuing the upward trend in global emissions, which are expected to reach at its peak before 2030 if we want to keep global warming below 1.5°C as called for by the Paris Agreement.

A group of protesters, many of them indigenous, invaded the restricted area of the convention center on Tuesday night (early morning in Catalonia) where the Brazil hosts the UN climate summit, COP30. for demanding a "tax on billionaires" to finance the fight against the climate crisis. Climate activists managed to breach the security checkpoints at the entrance to Parque da Cidade, which had been closed for the past few weeks for use as a summit venue, and entered the lobby of the large tent managed by the UN, where they clashed with police, who formed a cordon to prevent them from proceeding. Clashes and scenes of chaos ensued until the protesters were finally expelled.

The climate crisis exacerbates inequalities because it disproportionately affects the most vulnerable, who have fewer adaptation strategies. This is also evident in Spain, according to a report published by Oxfam Intermón this Wednesday on the occasion of the UN COP30 climate summit being held in Brazil. According to this research, entitled Climate inequality in Spain: An opportunity for a just transitionThe wealthiest 0.1% of the population in Spain pollutes up to 55 times more annually than a person in the poorest 50%, according to 2022 data. The study also reveals that 70% of the Spanish population lives in municipalities where the temperature has already increased by 1.5°C since 2019, and that per capita household income is lower than the average. In total, more than 33 million people in Spain already live in areas that have exceeded this threshold (which is not the Paris Agreement threshold, as that is a global average), which entails significant changes in weather and biodiversity. The top 1% of earners consume 45 times more of their carbon budget than they would need to keep global warming within the 1.5°C limit. "The ecological transition will only be just if those who emit the most assume their responsibility. Climate action is needed that combines social justice and climate ambition," says Lourdes Benavides, head of climate justice at Oxfam Intermón. According to the Oxfam study, Companies listed on the Ibex 35 are responsible for 30% of direct CO₂ emissions in Spain And just five—four from the energy sector and one from air transport, Oxfam details—generate more than a quarter of Spain's total.

It is interesting to read in this newspaper, side by side, the interview that Carla Turró does. to journalist Marzio G. Mian (a specialist in the key role the Arctic is currently playing in the new cold war – this is not a play on words – between Russia and NATO countries) and the chronicle by Sonia Sánchez Regarding COP30, the global climate summit taking place these days in Belém, Brazil, in the Amazon region. COP30 is laden with milestone anniversaries and symbolism (the Amazon rainforest—the lungs of the world, as it has been called—is an icon of the fight against climate change, and at the same time one of the natural areas on the planet most subjected to speculative and financial pressures), and also with doubts, and frankly, big money. What Mian explains about the Arctic is a perfect example of how climate change alters geopolitical conditions: the fact that Arctic ice is melting only means, for some governments (with Russia's at the forefront) and for many global investors, a new vast expanse of land to conquer and exploit, taking everything they can. The world isn't ending: first, we must squeeze it dry. Then we'll see if we go on to colonize other planets, a type of alternative that Elon Musk's teams and other figures who like to rhyme are already working on. megamillionaire and visionaryAlthough it also rhymes with parasitic.

COP30 kicks off today in Belém, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, and efforts are underway to truly begin implementing the Paris Agreement, which marks its tenth anniversary with mixed results. While the efforts made so far have yielded evident results, they are still insufficient to prevent global warming from exceeding 2°C. Much will be said, and we will revisit worrying data on the progression of warming and the targets for halting it.

"Climate change has caused more than 20,000 deaths in Spain in the last five years." Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez used his speech at the leaders' summit prior to COP30, held in Belém, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, to deliver a stark message about the effects of the climate emergency. Sánchez specifically took the opportunity to remember the 229 people who died as a result of the devastating DANA storm in the Valencian Community just over a year ago, as well as the deaths caused by the extreme heat waves that Spain has suffered in recent years.

Ten years ago in France, the world celebrated one of the most hopeful moments in recent diplomacy: the approval of theParis Agreementthe great global pact to curb planet warmingToday, however, optimism has faded, and reality imposes itself with the starkness of the data. The global average temperature is dangerously approaching the threshold of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, and the national climate commitments—Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)—that each country submits to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions remain insufficient. Wars and geopolitical tensions between the major global powers, along with instability and a lack of funding, have diminished the ambition of an international community that seems to have abandoned multilateralism. Besides the United States, which has yet to decide whether or not to send a delegation to Brazil, a notable absence at COP30 will be that of Israel, which has already announced its withdrawal due to its ongoing conflict with the UN.

The construction of a major highway deep in the Amazon rainforestThe fact that it crossed a protected area has sparked international controversy due to its alleged connection with the UN summit against climate change This year's COP30, being held in Brazil. Regional authorities responsible for the project claim it has nothing to do with COP30, but the fact is that the highway under construction—which has deforested a 13-kilometer-long strip of land—will carry a good portion of the 50,000 summit participants to the host city, Belém do Pará.