COP30 talks in crisis as oil-producing nations block reference to fossil fuel phaseout in final deal – Firstpost

Negotiators scrambled Friday to save UN climate talks in Brazil as oil-producing nations were accused of opposing any reference to fossil fuel phasing out in the final deal.

After nearly two weeks of negotiations in the Amazonian city of Belém, a new draft agreement unveiled by COP30 host Brazil made no mention of the words “fossil fuels” or “roadmap”, which President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva himself publicly endorsed.

EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said the text was “unacceptable” and the summit risked ending without a deal.

“I say this with a heavy heart, but what’s on the table now is clearly no deal,” Hoekstra told reporters.

More than 30 countries, including rich countries, emerging economies and small island states, warned in a letter to Brazil that they would reject any deal that does not include a plan to move away from fossil fuels.

France’s ecological transition minister Monique Barbut said AFP Oil-rich Russia and Saudi Arabia, along with coal-producing India and “several” emerging countries, were blocking a deal on the fossil fuel.

German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider said the latest draft “cannot remain as is” and warned that “negotiations will be difficult”, with only hours left before COP30 officially ends.

Colombia’s Environment Minister Irene Vélez Torres said on Friday that COP30 “cannot end” without a fossil fuel roadmap.

A consensus is needed among about 200 countries to land a deal at the U.N. climate conference, which is being held this year without the United States because President Donald Trump has refused to host the event.

The head of COP30, Brazilian diplomat Andrés Correa do Lago, said those who doubt that cooperation is the best way forward on climate change “will be absolutely delighted to see that we cannot reach an agreement between ourselves.”

The conference, which was disrupted for several hours on Thursday by a fire at the site, is due to end on Friday evening, but UN climate summits often run into overtime.

money fight

Pressure to phase out oil, gas and coal, the main drivers of global warming, grew from frustration over the lack of follow-up on the COP28 agreement in Dubai in 2023 to move away from fossil fuels.

The divide is not just over fossil fuels, but also over trade measures and finance for poor countries adapting to the impacts of climate change, such as floods and droughts, and moving towards a low-carbon future.

The rejected draft said there was a need for a “manifold increase” in financial assistance to developing countries. It also called for “efforts to triple adaptation finance” by 2030 compared to 2025 levels.

“The EU is stuck with the very first triple of adaptation finance they were comfortable with and got nothing in return. No transition from fossil fuels,” said Jake Schmidt, senior strategy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow,” Schmidt told AFP.

Bronwen Tucker, head of public finance at the advocacy group Oil Change International, called the latest draft text “outrageous.”

Tucker said, “The President has submitted an embarrassingly weak text that fails to mention fossil fuels, fails to account for rich countries’ finance obligations, and makes only vague promises on adaptation.”

Hoekstra said the EU is “willing to be ambitious on adaptation” but “any language on finance must be within the commitment reached last year” at COP29 in Baku, where developed nations agreed to provide $300 billion in annual climate finance by 2035.

The EU is also fighting resistance led by China and India against its “carbon tax” on imports such as steel, aluminium, cement and fertilizers – measures that Britain and Canada are also preparing to adopt.

Talks toward a final outcome were delayed on Thursday when a fire tore a hole in the fabric roof of the COP30 venue, prompting a panic evacuation.

Nineteen people were treated for smoke inhalation and two for panic attacks, officials said. The venue reopened on Thursday night.