Bitter rows, implacably opposed delegations, threatened walkouts and then, hours after the planned deadline with fear of failure stalking the delegates, a statement towards which recalcitrant countries have been nudged into agreeing is produced. Cop30, which concluded last Saturday in Belém, Brazil, was little different from its recent predecessors, despite the growing urgency of needing to find a solution to our ever hotter planet. For this week’s big story, environment editor Fiona Harvey details how weak consensus was forged between states on the frontline of climate change and the petrostates that sought a rollback from the need to “transition away from fossil” fuels agreed two years ago in Dubai.
And Jonathan Watts pinpoints the geopolitical headwinds that made this Cop especially difficult, although there is cause for some celebration over the flawed deal. In the face of a US president wedded to oil and coal who pursues idiosyncratic policy goals, the growth of rightwing populism, conflict in Ukraine and Gaza and worldwide economic uncertainty, it was unlikely Cop30 could have made a major step forward. But it did show that international co-operation remains an effective and necessary tool.
