The end of fossil fuels disappears from the final COP30 text and will be a separate proposal
The summit president announces an agreement to be presented this morning, which he says includes a "good solution" for financing adaptation.
BarcelonaThe president of COP30, Brazilian André Correa, explained this Saturday morning to the Amazonian media outlet Vox that a consensus solution had been reached in the climate negotiations, which continued throughout the night to conclude the UN summit in Brazil. Finally, the roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels has been removed from the summit's final text. MutirãoBut it becomes "an initiative of the presidency." Correa explained this without giving many more details, awaiting the consultations of all countries before giving their approval to the final text. It is understood, however, that the issue of fossil fuels, which has been the major stumbling block in the final negotiations of COP30, will be addressed in a separate document, and the Brazilian government—which holds the presidency of the UN climate forum until November 2026—has committed to working on and developing it from now on.
"I think many documents will be approved around 10:30 a.m. (Brazilian time). It's 8:10 a.m. now, and we've been locked in a room since 3:30 a.m.," he explained in the corridors of COP30. Without wanting to give too many details, the summit's director expressed his conviction that the summit will soon conclude with a consensus document that, in addition to addressing the issue of fossil fuels, will include agreements on financing for the adaptation of the countries most vulnerable to the climate crisis, which was another key point. "Financing for adaptation has gone very well, very good news," Correa said. "The roadmap, no," he said, alluding to fossil fuels, and added: "We will announce that the roadmap will be an initiative of the Brazilian presidency. It wasn't included in the text, but the Brazilian presidency has just begun and we have eleven months ahead of us," Correa responded. Brazil chaired this summit and assumed the presidency of the UN climate change program for one year, until next November when it hands over the reins to Turkey, which has been chosen to host COP31. Reuters has also confirmed, from two of its own sources, that this fossil fuel roadmap will be "a separate document." But none of the countries that had made this issue their rallying cry have yet said whether they agree with this solution. Everything hinges on the start of the final plenary session of COP30, scheduled for the coming hours, to learn each country's specific positions on the matter. If there is no general consensus, the document cannot be approved.
With this response, the Brazilian president of the summit implies that The petition, signed by 82 countries, called for the UN to establish "a roadmap for a transition away from fossil fuels.""It will become a separate initiative, a document that will likely involve the creation of a working group, and which the Brazilian government is committed to advancing in the coming months. The mention of this roadmap, which appeared in the first draft of the final COP30 text, will ultimately not appear in this document." Mutirão -what does it mean community effort In Portuguese.
Many countries, including Spain, but also the entire European Union and the United Kingdom, threatened to block any final COP30 agreement that did not include the demand to promote a roadmap for "a transition away from fossil fuels," a reference that was already included in C2, but was reiterated in the final agreement of last year's summit in Azerbaijan. The reluctance of oil and gas producing countries—despite the absence of the world's leading exporter, the United States—has once again blocked a clear agreement on this point. But the Brazilian presidency has sought a consensus solution by promoting a separate initiative on the matter.
The issue, in fact, has generated a lot of tension in recent hours within the negotiation rooms, according to sources familiar with the matter. And Brazil's own president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, had committed to this "roadmap" to phase out oil, gas, and coal, so failing to reach an agreement on that point would have been a failure. However, Brazil's commitment contrasts sharply with its policies, which continue to prioritize opening oil fields in the Amazon. "I think a very good result has been achieved," said Correa, who congratulated himself on having been able to "bring 195 countries to an agreement"—all those present at the summit, which includes all the countries in the UN climate change program except for the United States under Donald Trump, which did not participate in the ACIMERA summit in Paris.
