The curtain on COP30 or the UN Climate Change Conference in the Brazilian city of Belem fell in the last week of November amid commitments, hopes, rage and disappointment. There have been reaffirmation of commitments to move away from fossil fuels, but the pledges by the rich countries have fallen short of any concrete roadmap of how to cut down the carbon emission responsible for global warming. The culprits behind the global warming have long been identified as coal, oil and gas. Sadly, like in the previous years the rich nations failed to live up to the expectations of at least 80 countries which pressed for the concrete roadmap on how to implement the commitments on reducing the use of fossil fuels and check the global warning at 1.5C of pre industrial level. Once again the fossil fuel – the elephant in the room – got less attention from the rich nations. Even though the summit saw deep divisions among the nations some positive developments did not go unnoticed.
“While deep divisions were on display in Belém, we also saw strong ambition from countries to continue working together on the transition away from fossil fuels,” said Patricia Fuller, IISD president and CEO. “This work will go beyond COP 30.”
Not many will agree with him though. This year’s climate summit raised hope that there will be steps to build on commitments to move away from fossil fuels, phase out fossil fuel subsidies and boost the use of renewables. At least 88 countries have pushed for the issues to be included in the final declaration but what they received is disappointment. There has been no commitment on reforming the fossil fuel subsidies.
Many participants, however, wondered what happed to the Presidency’s call for “implementation COP.”
Instead, the outcome saw deep divisions on finance, trade measures, mitigation pathways, and other areas.
“The outcome of the conference left many disappointed, including more than 80 countries that pushed for a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels in the final deal. Those who supported a stronger outcome on climate finance for developing countries were equally discouraged,” according to a group of climate change experts.
Despite absence of a consensus Brazil played a key role in intensifying the debate on fossil fuels, seen as a political breakthrough.
According to a summit document “On the political dimension, Brazil led an unprecedented global debate on the future of fossil fuels. Despite the absence of consensus, with more than 80 countries supporting explicit language and over 80 opposing it, the Brazilian Presidency announced, on its own initiative, processes to develop two key roadmaps:
Transition to a fossil fuel-free economy in a just, orderly, and equitable manner;
Forest and Climate Roadmap to halt and reverse deforestation.
Still, there were some positive outcomes and a clear desire to make progress in the months and years ahead, including through collaboration outside of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process.
The issue of tackling the fossil fuel and arriving at an agreement on this will have to wait until COP 31 convene in Turkiye, with Australia serving as the “President of Negotiations.” Both Australia and Turkiye were determined to host the next summit. The compromise arrived at Belem has been a positive development.
At Belem summit Bangladesh played a critical role advocating for climate justice, adaptation, and finance by pushing for the operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund, demanding a new, scaled-up global climate finance goal ($1.3 trillion by 2035), and prioritizing direct access to funds for local communities and women. The country also emphasized the need to scale up adaptation finance, increase green technology transfer, and secure international recognition for climate migrants.
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