Day 10 of COP30 - in summary
That brings us to a wrap on the live blog for Day 10.
A fire erupted in the Blue Zone, dramatically pausing negotiations as delegates face fast-approaching deadlines to secure an agreement. With just days left, key and contentious items remain on the agenda, including financing and phasing off fossil fuels.
Here’s more of what we covered:
Turkey clinched hosting duties for Cop31 but will be aided by Australia, which will lead the negotiations, a deal that ended a fierce stand-off between the two countries.
A roadmap for the transition away from fossil fuels is appearing increasingly unlikely, with some sources hearing by midday on Thursday that the language had been removed from the draft text.
Despite the excitement on Tuesday when 82 countries from across the globe came together to call for its inclusion – nearly half of all the nations at Cop30 – they represent just 7% of fossil fuel production and are unlikely to convince big producers.
There was a call for host country Brazil – along with all the other nations – to put a tax on meat and dairy, and use the revenue this generates to subsidise healthier plant-based foods.
The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, is in Belém to urge the world’s nations to find compromises in the final hours of Cop30 and deliver a deal to accelerate climate action: “We are down to the wire and the world is watching.”
US leaders weighed in from afar, both for and against participating in global climate agreements. The White House spokeswoman said that other countries are “lining up” to import American oil and gas. Meanwhile, Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, the lone federal representative to attend the summit, said: “Trump does not represent the United States…“He represents the fossil fuel industry and specifically, his big billionaire fossil fuel, donors, when it comes to climate matters”.
Thanks for joining us today. As always, you can catch the latest news and analysis from the Guardian on COP30 here.
Officials announced that the Cop30 venue will be closed until 8pm local time, Reuters reports.
The fire has been contained and more than a dozen people were impacted by the smoke. No other injuries have been reported.
“Thirteen individuals were treated on site for smoke inhalation. Their condition is being monitored, and appropriate medical support has been provided,” organizers said in a statement, that also said the fire was under control within 6 minutes.
But the evacuations, while successful, where harrowing for those who were rushed from the smoking building.
“I was in the Amazon Governor’s pavilion and then I saw people running towards me,” Nathaniel Mtunji, a Kenyan policy advisor for The Nature Conservancy, told my colleague Damian Carrington. “The fire was big and coming towards us, spreading along the roof.”
The fire ignited in the pavilion area just after 2pm local time, its cause still under investigation. This is just one of many dangers that have plagued the summit venue, which has also been waterlogged by deluges of rain and baked in humidity and high temperatures. There has also been concern and criticism over security and the crackdown on protests.
“Between the booths flooding and a fire breaking out in the Blue Zone, feels like maybe someone is trying to tell us something at Cop30,” climate journalist Amy Westervelt said in a post on Bluesky.
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