COP30: UN climate summit removes mention of fossil fuels from draft agreement

Any new mention of fossil fuels, by far the biggest contributor to climate change, has been removed from the draft agreement being negotiated as the UN COP30 climate talks in Belém, Brazil, enter their final stretch.

The fight pits groups of countries against each other, but all 194 parties must reach an agreement to approve a deal at the two-week summit.

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

An earlier text included three possible routes to achieve this, but was abandoned due to opposition from oil-producing nations.

Thousands of negotiators, experts and activists remain at the site, which has been repaired after a fire blew a hole in the roof on Thursday.

A group of countries, including the UK, have published a letter saying they have “deep concern” and reject the new draft agreement.

“We cannot support an outcome that does not include a roadmap to implement a just, orderly and equitable transition away from fossil fuels,” he said.

Two years ago, COP28 in Dubai committed countries to “transition away from fossil fuels,” but did not bind them to specific actions or timelines.

A group of more than 80 nations wants COP30 to create that plan and approve tougher language on oil, coal and gas.

A source close to the negotiations said Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations are blocking the fossil fuel deal. The BBC has contacted Saudi Arabia for comment.

French Environment Minister Monique Barbut said the deal is being blocked by “oil-producing countries: Russia, India, Saudi Arabia, but many emerging countries are joining.”

He suggested that small island nations could accept a weaker deal on fossil fuels if they got more funding to adapt to changes in their countries caused by rising temperatures.

On France’s position, he said: “Right now, even if we didn’t have the roadmap, but at least a mention of fossil fuels, I think we would accept it. But as things stand now, we have nothing left.”

Dropping the language is likely a negotiating tactic to raise the temperature in talks and force countries to reach an agreement.

In the hallways, groups of activists chant “out with fossil fuels” and hang banners reading “Stop Amazon oil” and “1.5°C under threat: time to act.”

“A good result could mean giving us a future and a present worth fighting for,” Shurabe Mercado, an activist with Mexico’s International Youth Climate Movement, told BBC News.

“Our generation is the one most at risk and we are the ones with the most at stake.”

The meeting is a tense and delicate diplomatic process in which countries fight to protect their national interests while also trying to address the issue of climate change.

Some observers question the value of complex, legalistic conversations that almost always end in the past.

But others point to significant progress in measures to address climate change, including renewable energy, electric vehicles and nature protection in recent years linked to COP agreements.

Other issues discussed at the COP include the gap in climate finance promised by richer nations to developing nations that are most affected by climate change.

The new draft of the agreement called for global efforts to triple the financing available to countries by 2030.

But he did not say whether this should come from richer nations or from other sources, such as the private sector.

This could anger poorer countries that want greater support from richer nations and sharply criticized an agreement at last year’s COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, that they considered insignificant.

Deforestation has been a sensitive topic at the meeting, which is taking place on the edge of the Brazilian Amazon.

The new draft also weakened language related to combating deforestation.

“For a COP held in the Amazon, it is devastating that deforestation is taking a backseat,” said Kelly Dent, Director of External Engagement at World Animal Protection.

“Wildlife and indigenous people who call the forest their home deserve better than this.”

The two-week meeting was interrupted by two evacuations.

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

On Thursday a fire broke out that opened a hole in the tarp that covered the place and caused 13 injuries from smoke inhalation. The summit was evacuated and closed for at least six hours.

The summit has been praised for including the largest number yet of delegates from indigenous groups.