COP30: Nations agree climate deal without fossil fuel plan

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says COP30 delivered progress but not enough of it to meet global targets.

The deal struck at the conference showed "that nations can still come together to confront the defining challenges no country can solve alone," Guterres said in a statement after the conference in Brazil drew to a close. 

"I cannot pretend that COP30 has delivered everything that is needed," he added.

He noted that nearly all participating countries agreed to boost climate aid for poorer countries, aiming to triple funds by 2035.

But there was no binding plan to phase out fossil fuels, only a voluntary push to speed up national efforts.

Guterres warned that keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius remains humanity's red line.

"That requires deep, rapid emission cuts — with clear and credible plans to transition away from fossil fuels and towards clean energy," he wrote. 

The UN Environment Programme has said the world is likely to exceed this target soon.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently came under fire in Brazil for comments he made after his trip to the COP30 Summit in Belem.

But Merz and Brazil President Lula da Silva, who were meeting in Johannesburg for the G20 summit on Saturday, appeared to put that controversy behind them.

Read more on how Lula and Merz reconciled after Merz's remarks sparked outrage in Brazil.

A fortnight of marathon talks marked by Indigenous protests, the notable absence of the US and a fire that forced a mass evacuation of the venue, have closed with a deal that many feel is weak given the scale of the climate crisis.

A main point of contention has been a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels.

More than 80 countries — including Colombia, Germany, and Kenya — had said a final deal would hinge on a concrete action plan to follow through on a previous hard-won pledge to shift beyond coal, oil and gas.

But the idea did not make it into the final document.

Read more about how the COP30 summit ended without a roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels. 

 

Nearly 200 countries sealed a modest climate deal after two weeks of talks in the Brazilian city of Belem.

DW speaks to Niklas Höhne, co-founder of the New Climate Institute, about COP30 failing to secure new pledges to phase out fossil fuels. 

The COP30's closing plenary has resumed following procedural complaints, with President Andre Correa do Lago confirming that decisions that were made earlier have been adopted.

The session was temporarily suspended after Colombia and other countries said their objections had not been heard and that their requests to speak had been ignored.

"I deeply regret I was not made aware of the requests of the Parties to take the floor," said Correa do Lago.

DW's Giulia Saudelli said that before the resumption, "there was quite some confusion."

"It was uncharted territory, so observers, journalists and delegates were trying to figure out whether the gaveling could have been reversed or not," she said.

COP30 President Andre Correa do Lago has suspended the closing plenary session after several nations voiced their objections.

Colombia, in line with other countries that have spoken during the session, expressed its disappointment with the adapted text amid complaints their concerns were not considered before the deal was approved.

Both plenary halls erupted into applause and cheers after COP30 President Andre Correa do Lago hit the gavel to signal the deal's approval.

"I know civil society will demand us to do more to fight climate change. I want to reaffirm that I will try not to disappoint you during my presidency," said Correa do Lago.

The talks in Brazil ended without a binding plan to move away from oil, gas and coal in the main text.

But Correa do Lago pledged to create two roadmaps: one to transition away from fossil fuels and another to end deforestation.

Representatives from nearly 200 countries agreed on a deal at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil, which does not include a plan to phase out fossil fuels.

The agreement was reached after the summit had to be extended amid deep divisions over fossil fuels.

Unlike other EU members, Portugal's Environment and Energy Minister Maria da Graca Carvalho struck a more positive note on the COP30 draft text.

"It was a difficult COP. It was a difficult agreement, but fortunately, we made it," Carvalho told DW.

She said that the European Union wanted "more ambition in reducing emissions and in phasing out fossil fuels, but even so, we managed to include several phrases and references to this ambition."

Calling the roadmap "a good agreement," Carvalho also mentioned that the draft plan includes "a very important part on adaptation finance, which is what the developing countries were asking for."

"Portugal always had a very open position toward an agreement, and we always worked to build bridges and make this agreement possible," she added.

Italy's Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin told DW that the roadmap to phase out fossil fuels, which was not included in the COP30 agreement, was not "part of Europe's objectives."

"It was the result of an initiative by some countries here at the COP," he said.

But at the conference, the EU spoke as a united bloc in favor of including the roadmap in the COP’s final decisions.

It took a lot of convincing for Italy and Poland to join the other EU countries in supporting the roadmap. 

But Pichetto Fratin’s words point to the divisions within the EU behind the scenes.

Fratin explain that the roadmap to phase out fossil fuels was not included in the final text because "there was a block on the roadmap, specifically on fossil fuels, by a large number of countries, practically half of the countries present here."

"It was decided to send it to a side document, a side table that will launch the initiative," Fratin added.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has hailed a draft deal reached at the COP30 in Belem.

"In the year when the planet surpassed for the first time — and perhaps permanently — the limit of 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, the international community faced a choice: to continue or to give up. We chose the first option," said Lula at the G20 leaders' summit in Johannesburg.

"At the COP of truth, science prevailed. Multilateralism won," he added.

Meanwhile, the head of China's delegation to UN climate talks in Brazil told AFP that COP30 will go down as a "success in a very difficult situation."

"I'm happy with the outcome," Li Gao said. "We achieved this success in a very difficult situation, so it shows that the international community would like to show solidarity and make joint efforts to address climate change."

The text of the proposed final deal at the UN climate talks omits any direct mention of a fossil fuel phaseout, one of the key demands of the EU and many other countries.

The EU indicated that while more work was needed, it said it would not oppose the deal and would stand with poorer states, many of which are the most vulnerable to climate change.

To this end, the draft text published on Saturday called for funding for developing nations to be tripled, to accelerate climate action and review trade barriers.

The draft also called for cooperation to "promote a supportive and open international economic system" which it said would lead to sustainable economic growth and development.

It said that this would enable developing countries to better handle issues related to climate change.

Germany's Environment Minister Carsten Schneider has said he is "a little disappointed" that the UN climate summit has failed to agree on a phaseout of fossil fuels.

Schneider told reporters that the EU and its allies had found stiff opposition from a "very strong" coalition of oil-producing nations.

The EU's decision to back the draft agreement is "by no means a step backward, but rather an intermediate step," the minister said.

He added that Germany and the EU would continue working on forging "alliances" to continue the push to phase out fossil fuels.

EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra has confirmed that the bloc would not stand in the way of a deal at the COP 30 summit in Brazil.

"It's crystal clear that it was an intense and sometimes difficult week and also evening," EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told reporters in Belem.

"Even though the statement is formally not yet out, we have of course seen the pre-final version, and there's a lot that we would have liked to have more. Climate and climate change needs more battling, more action, more delivery," Wopke said.

"And that is why we have been pushing for that, because the EU needs more, because the world needs more."

"And in the end when you see what is on the table, we do think that we should support it," the EU's climate chief said.

"We should support it because it is at least going in the right direction, because it is very clear that we should stand shoulder to shoulder with our friends from the poorest nations," Hoekstra added.

The European Union says work is underway to secure a positive outcome at the COP30 climate talks in Brazil.

"Working very hard to secure a positive outcome of @Cop30noBrasil," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on X.

"In the margins of G20, we work to cross the finish line with a successful result. One that matches the scale of the challenges facing our planet. We want to make Bélem a success. We are with you, @LulaOficial," the EU chief said, appearing to back up earlier reports that the EU would not oppose a tentative deal. 

The UN Climate Change Conference ran into overtime after representatives from about 200 countries failed to agree on a draft deal proposed by host nation Brazil.

More than 80 countries, among them Germany, are pushing to phase out fossil fuels, a move strongly opposed by oil-producing countries.