Day 8 of Cop30 - recapped
That’s a wrap for us on day 8 of Cop30, which was marked by a “zone of exclusion,” for indigenous protesters and revelations that hundreds of industrial agriculture lobbyists are participating in this year’s climate talks. But the day also brought a first look at the potential agreement to come – complete with language on a “transition away from fossil fuels”.
Here’s more of what we covered today:
More than 80 ministers joined the Mutirão call for a fossil fuel roadmap insisting on the urgetn need for a phase out plan. The group included representatives from Sierra Leone and Kenya. The German representative said nearly all of Europe was behind it, and The UK’s Secretary of State for Energy Ed Miliband, a stalwart of Cop conferences, was also at the podium.
On Wednesday, a new draft text is expected from the Brazilian presidency, addressing more of the key issues, including financing and the transition away from fossil fuels.
Uncertainty remains over who will host next year’s Cop as the tussle between Australia and Turkey continues with little clarity.
The lack of money that rich polluters have provided for adaptation to climate breakdown has frustrated delegates and observers from poorer countries that are struggling with violent weather – while negotiators are divided on how to measure adaptation progress.
Youth from around the world have played a vital role in the proceedings. On Tuesday they hosted the final of three Youth-led Climate Forums during which they presented the global youth statement – an enormous undertaking that collected the largest declaration from children and youth in climate change and called for a “full, fast, fair fossil phase-out”.
Thanks for reading along. We will have more on Cop30 tomorrow and as always you can read the news and analysis from our experts on the ground here.
My colleagues Fiona Harvey and Jonathan Watts, who are on the ground in Belém, have more on the call for a roadmap to phasing out fossil fuels.
More than 80 countries have signed on, a move they said was “a dramatic intervention into stuck negotiations at the UN Cop30 climate summit”:
Countries from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific joined with EU member states and the UK to make an impassioned plea for the “transition away from fossil fuels” to be a central outcome of the talks, despite stiff opposition from petro states and some other major economies.
Tina Stege, climate envoy for the Marshall Islands, flanked by ministers from more than 20 countries, told a packed press conference in Belém: “Let’s get behind the idea of a fossil fuel roadmap, let’s work together and make it a plan.”
Campaigners hailed the intervention. Jasper Inventor, deputy programme director at Greenpeace International, said: “This could be the turning point of Cop30. This was a strong signal coming from Global South and Global North countries on the need to phase out fossil fuels. They are following the call of 40,000 people on the streets of Belem and millions of people around the world. The presidency [of the Cop] and the rest of the parties have to heed this call. The climate needs it, the people demand it.”
Read the rest of their story here:
