“This is an empty deal,” said Nikki Resch, director of the Climate and Energy Program at the Center for International Environmental Law. “The UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) offers a stark reminder that the answers to the climate crisis do not lie in the climate talks – they lie in the people and movements that lead the way toward a just, equitable and fossil-fuel-free future. The science is settled and the law is clear: we must keep fossil fuels in the ground and make polluters pay.”
The UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) was notable because it was the first international climate conference to which the United States did not send an official delegation, following President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement. However, even in the absence of a Trump administration, observers have been disappointed by the ability of fossil fuel-producing countries to derail ambition. The final document also failed to heed a fire warning in the final days of the talks, which many took as a symbol of the Earth’s rapid heating.
“The rich, polluting countries that caused this crisis have prevented the progress we needed at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30).”
“The place on fire could not be a more apt metaphor for the catastrophic failure of COP30 to take concrete action to implement a funded and equitable phase-out of fossil fuels.” He said Jan Su, Director of Energy Justice at Center for Biodiversityin a statement. “Even without the Trump administration to bully and cajole, the petro-states have once again blocked meaningful progress at this COP. These negotiations continue to hit a wall as rich countries that profit from polluting fossil fuels fail to provide developing countries with the necessary financial support and any real commitment to move first.”
Talks on the final deal nearly collapsed between Friday and Saturday, as a coalition of more than 80 countries that favored more ambitious language confronted fossil fuel-producing nations such as Saudi Arabia, Russia and India.
During the conflict, the representative of Colombia He said The agreement “does not reflect the scale of the challenges facing the parties – especially the most vulnerable – on the ground.” according to BBC News.
Finally, an agreement was reached around 1:35 p.m. local time, The Guardian I mentioned. The deal It has been spoofed Discussing fossil fuels by emphasizing the “UAE Consensus,” referring to countries agreeing to transition away from fossil fuels at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in the UAE. In addition, the President of the Conference of the Parties, Andre Correa do Lago He said This stronger language on the transition to fossil fuels could be negotiated at the Interim COP within six months.
On deforestation, the deal reaffirmed COP26’s pledge to stop logging by 2030 without introducing any new plans or commitments.
Climate justice advocates have also been disappointed by the financial commitments from the Global North to the Global South. While the richest countries pledged to triple adaptation funds to $120 billion annually, many saw the amount as insufficient, and the money was promised by 2035, not 2030 as poor countries wanted.
“We must think about what was possible, and what is now missing: roadmaps to end forest destruction, fossil fuels, and persistent funding shortfalls,” said Carolina Pasquale, Executive Director of Greenpeace Brazil. The Guardian. “More than 80 countries supported a transition away from fossil fuels, but were prevented from agreeing on this change by countries that refused to support this necessary and urgent step. More than 90 countries supported improved forest protection. This also did not reach final agreement. Unfortunately, the text failed to achieve the scale of change required.”
Climate activists saw hope in the strong language of the final agreement on human rights and its commitment to a just transition through the Belem Action Mechanism, which aims to coordinate global cooperation towards worker protection and the transition to clean energy.
“It is a huge win that the Belém Action Mechanism has been established with the strongest COP language ever on indigenous and labor rights and biodiversity protection,” Sow said. “The BAM agreement stands in stark contrast to the full enthusiasm of the COP on implementing a funded and equitable phase-out of fossil fuels.”
Viviana Santiago, Executive Director of Oxfam Brazil, made a similar observation: “COP 30 provided a spark of hope but it was far sadder, as the ambition of world leaders still falls short of what is needed for a livable planet. People from the Global South have arrived in Belém with hope, seeking real progress on adaptation and financing, but rich countries have refused to provide crucial financing for adaptation. This failure leaves communities on the front lines of the climate crisis vulnerable to the worst impacts with no options.” Little to survive.
“The climate movement will leave Belém angry at the lack of progress, but with a clear plan to channel that anger into action.”
Roman Ewalin, Global Policy Officer at Oil Change International He said: “The rich polluting countries that caused this crisis have prevented the breakthrough we needed at the COP30. The EU, the UK, Australia and other rich countries are to blame for the COP’s failure to adopt a roadmap on fossil fuels by refusing to commit to phasing out first or putting real public money on the table for the crisis they caused. However, amid this flawed outcome, there is a glimmer of real progress. The Belem Action Mechanism is a major win made possible by movements and countries of the Global South that put people’s needs and rights at the heart of action “climatic.”
Indigenous leaders praised language that recognized their land rights and traditional knowledge as climate solutions, and recognized people of African descent for the first time. However, they still say the COP process can do more to enable the full participation of indigenous communities.
“Despite the reference to the Indigenous COP and despite the historic achievement in the Just Transition Agenda, it has become clear that indigenous peoples are still excluded from the negotiations and, in many cases, we have not been given a say in the negotiating rooms. Nor have most of our proposals been incorporated,” said Emil Gualinga of the Quechua peoples in Sarayaku, Ecuador. “The militarization of the COP shows that indigenous peoples are viewed as threats, and the same thing is happening in our lands: militarization occurs when indigenous peoples defend their rights in the face of oil, mining, and other extractive projects.”
Many activists saw hope in the alliances that have emerged outside the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process, from a group of 24 countries that have Agreed To collaborate on a plan to transition away from fossil fuels in line with the Paris goals of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius Indigenous activists and civil society who marched against fossil fuels in Belém.
“The barrier that rich countries have built against progress and justice in the COP30 process stands in stark contrast to the momentum building outside the climate talks,” Ewalalen said. “Countries and people from around the world are loudly demanding a fair and funded phase-out, and this will not stop. We did not win the full justice outcome we needed in Belém, but we have new arenas to continue the fight.”
In April 2026, Colombia and the Netherlands will host the first international conference on the phase-out of fossil fuels. Meanwhile, 18 countries have done so It was signed To support a fossil fuel phase-out treaty.
“No matter how much big polluters may try to insulate themselves from liability or modify science, that does not put them above the law,” Resch said. “That is why governments committed to tackling the crisis at its source are uniting to move beyond the UNFCCC – under the leadership of Colombia and Pacific Island nations – to phase out fossil fuels quickly, fairly and in line with the 1.5°C target. The International Fossil Fuel Phase-out Conference in Colombia next April is the first stop on the path to a livable future. A fossil fuel treaty is the road map the world needs and the leaders in Belém failed to deliver.”
These efforts must address the influence of not only fossil fuel producing countries, but also the fossil fuel industry itself, which sent a record 1,602 lobbyists to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30).
“COP30 saw a record number of lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry and carbon capture sector,” said Lily Faure, Director of Fossil Economics at CIEL. “With 531 carbon capture and storage (CCS) lobbyists – exceeding the delegations of 62 countries – and more than 1,600 fossil fuel lobbyists making up 1 in 25 attendees, these industries have infiltrated the conversations, pushing dangerous distractions like CCS and geoengineering. However, this unprecedented corporate takeover has faced ever fiercer resistance from progressive people and governments – With science and law on their side – demanding a climate action that protects people, planet and profit.”
In fact, Jamie Hain of Make Polluters Pay said: Shared dreams Polluting nations and industries have overplayed their position, arguing that Big Oil and ‘petrol nations’, including the United States, did everything they could to block progress at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30), stripping the final agreement of any mention of fossil fuels. But their opposition may have backfired: more countries are now committed to pursuing a roadmap to phase out oil, a spotlight highlighted by this April’s conference in Colombia on a ‘fuel treaty’ Fossil” potential, with the support of Brazil, the European Union and others.”
“The COP negotiations are a consensual process, which means it is almost impossible to come up with strong language on fossil fuels after blockers like Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United States, who skipped these talks, but were clearly opposed to any meaningful action,” Hain continued. “But you can’t hide the reality: the transition from fossils to clean energy is accelerating every day.”
“From indigenous protests to the torrential rain on the conference roof every afternoon, this COP in the heart of the Amazon has been forced to confront realities that these negotiations too often try to ignore,” he concluded. “I believe the climate movement will leave Belém angry at the lack of progress, but with a clear plan to channel that anger into action. Climate has always been a fight against fossil fuels, and that fight is now fully underway.”
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