The final COP30 draft in Belém brought disappointment: no roadmap for fossil energy, adaptation funding to triple by 2035, 1.5 degree target just lip service. Overview.
In Belém, most of the draft COP30 final document has been finalized – and there has been disappointment. Because: The EU has not been able to uphold its demands for a roadmap to shift away from fossil fuels.
The draft comprehensive resolution submitted Saturday does not contain the word “fossil”; this refers only to calls at the penultimate COP in Dubai. At that time there were calls for a “transition away from fossil fuels”.
The text of the resolution instead refers to the need to drastically reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to comply with the Paris Climate Agreement. The text also contains a commitment that assistance for developing countries to adapt to the impacts of global warming must be tripled by 2035.
Regarding the 1.5 degree target, there are no new commitments if there are any new commitments. The text is also unclear on the topic of forest protection and trade. Criticism of this is a weak compromise that provides political signals but does not provide concrete steps.
What’s in the Mutirão package:
- Not a word about fossil energy: There is no roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels. Instead, the “Implementation Accelerator” is intended to advance the – already weak – formulation agreed in Dubai to shift away from fossil fuels. Results are expected to be achieved at COP31.
- Adaptation financing: Financial support for climate adaptation will be tripled by 2035 – five years later than previously planned. This is intended to help countries most affected by climate change undertake financial measures to protect themselves from the impacts of climate change.
- 1.5 degree target: The commitment to 1.5 degrees was reaffirmed, including a call to fully implement the national climate plan (NDC) and present a “better” plan. However, there are no new concrete commitments yet.
- Forest protection: The goal of halting and reversing deforestation by 2030 has been highlighted – without a concrete roadmap or new measures. The “Tropical Forests Forever Fund” is also unnamed.
- Trade: The text emphasizes that unilateral climate trade actions must not be “arbitrary or discriminatory”. At the same time, three new trade dialogues were announced. The trade issue has become a hot topic, especially for BRICS countries and developing countries, as they criticize CBAM, the EU’s climate tariffs.
- Belem Mission 1.5 degrees: The new Presidential Initiative aims to focus higher ambitions on NDCs and adaptation and report back to COP31. There is a huge gap between national climate plans and the 1.5 degree target.
- Finance:
- The ministerial round hit the $300 billion target agreed by the global community in Baku last year. At the last COP it was decided that industrialized countries would provide at least $300 billion annually to poor countries by 2035.
- A two-year work program on Article 9 climate finance will be launched.
- Scientific basis: This text again recognizes the IPCC as the benchmark for “the best science available.” Some states have previously tried to undermine the scientific position of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Schneider “a little disappointed”
Federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider (SPD) is “a little disappointed” that no efforts have been made in Belem to move away from fossils. However, the EU and its partners are faced with a “very powerful” coalition of oil-producing countries.
However, the current resolution is “not a step back at all, but rather an intermediate step,” stressed Schneider. Germany and the EU will now “forge an alliance” to take further steps to put up a “stop sign” on fossil energy.
Schneider’s Foreign Minister Jochen Flasbarth told the AFP news agency that with the revised text of the resolution, the world is now at least better “than it was two days ago.” He justified the fact that the EU did not allow the decision to fail by refusing to give its approval by saying that “there is no other process” to advance global climate protection efforts other than the UN climate conference.
EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra also said that the EU wants “greater ambition” as a result of the conference. But the agreement is at least “in the right direction.”
The conference plenary session was held again on Saturday to vote on the resolutions. At the UN climate conference, decisions from around 190 negotiating countries must be taken by consensus.
