UN climate summit removes mention of fossil fuels from draft agreement

A heated debate over fossil fuels erupted at the COP30 UN climate talks in Belem, Brazil. The meeting was officially over time.

At the heart of the row is disagreement over how strong a deal should be in efforts to reduce emissions from fossil fuels, the biggest cause of climate change.

The dispute pits several countries against each other, but all 194 parties must agree to pass an agreement at the two-week summit.

Representatives and observers gathered in the heavily guarded negotiating room said the talks had become very difficult.

“There is a lot of fighting going on,” one negotiator in the room told the BBC.

The talks were scheduled to conclude at 1800 local time (2100GMT) and will now go into overtime.

But the cruise ship, where many of the delegations are staying, is under increasing pressure as it departs from Belem on Saturday due to a lack of accommodation.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and some countries, including Britain, want the summit to force countries to take stronger and faster action to reduce their use of fossil fuels.

This will advance an agreement reached two years ago at COP28 in Dubai where countries pledged to “transition away from fossil fuels.”

Brazil’s first draft of the agreement presented three options, including terms, but the latest version makes no mention of fossil fuels.

French Environment Minister Monique Barbut said, “Oil-producing countries Russia, India and Saudi Arabia are blocking this agreement, but many emerging countries are also joining.” She added: “At the moment we have nothing left.”

The BBC has approached Saudi Arabia for comment.

Speaking to reporters outside the negotiations, Secretary of State for Energy and Security Ed Miliband said Britain was determined to keep plans to take further action on fossil fuels in talks.

“It’s hard, it’s sweaty, it’s frustrating. There’s a big difference in perspective,” he said.

“We are confident that this innovative idea will survive this COP in one way or another, with the support of more than 80 countries seeking to develop a roadmap to move away from fossil fuels,” he said.

Mr Miliband added: “I think in 10 or 20 years people will be saying this.” “You are a generation that has seen the climate crisis around us. Have you taken action? Have you risen to the challenge? That idea of ​​what people will think of us in the future is what keeps me going.”

Some developing countries have not supported a deal on fossil fuels because they want rich countries to first make good on their promises to provide climate finance to help them cope with or adapt to the impacts of climate change.

“We need adaptation funding because we are already doing a lot to reduce emissions,” Aisha Moriana, head of the Pakistan delegation, told BBC News.

“Who’s going to pay the checks? We’re looking forward to getting that money,” she said.

Asked whether Pakistan would support the fossil fuel deal if it received new commitments on finances, Moriana said: “This cannot happen in a few hours and it requires a lot of finances.”

In the hallways, several activists are chanting “Get out of fossil fuels” and displaying banners reading “Stop Amazon Oil” and “1.5C Threat: Time to Act.”

“A good outcome could mean giving us a future and a present worth fighting for,” Schrave Mercado, an international youth climate activist from Mexico, told BBC News.

“Our generation is the most at risk, and we are the most at risk.”

The talks are a complex and delicate diplomatic process as countries jostle to address climate change while protecting their national interests.

Some observers question the value of conversations that are almost always overly complex and legalistic.

But others point to significant advances in recent years in measures to combat climate change, including renewable energy, electric vehicles and nature conservation, linked to the COP agreement.

Other issues discussed at the COP include the gap in climate finance promised by rich countries to developing countries most affected by climate change.

The new draft agreement calls for a global effort to triple the financing available to countries by 2030.

However, it did not specify whether this should come from rich countries or other sources, such as the private sector.

That could anger poorer countries, which want stronger support from rich countries and could heavily criticize a deal they viewed as frivolous at last year’s COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Deforestation along the edge of the Brazilian Amazon has also been a serious problem.

The new draft agreement weakens previous language addressing deforestation.

“The wildlife and indigenous people who call forests their home deserve better than this,” said Kelly Dent, director of external engagement for World Animal Protection.

The two-week meeting was interrupted by two evacuations.

Last week, a group of protesters broke into the COP site in Belém holding signs saying “Our forests are not for sale.”

A fire broke out on Thursday, tearing a hole in sheets covering the venue and injuring 13 people from smoke inhalation. The summit was evacuated and closed for at least six hours.

This summit was evaluated as having the largest attendance of indigenous group representatives ever.