Symbolism was everywhere as Brazil Cop30 came to an end. First there was the Africa Pavilion. suddenly caught fire on Thursday afternoon, which – along with daily torrential rains in the Amazon that have flooded a number of conference rooms for two weeks – gave the impression that extreme weather conditions caused by climate was right there in the room with us in Belem.
Then came the news that, after much disagreement between the two countries, the next UN climate conference, Cop31, was set to be hosted by the Australian government in the Turkish resort town of Anatalya, while the pre-CoP summit of world leaders was to be held on the Pacific island. How this will all play out is anyone's guess at this stage, but the decision goes some way to reflecting how difficult it is for countries to agree on anything at the moment.
Nearly a full day after Cop30 was supposed to end—and hours after two huge cruise ships hosting national delegations set sail from Belém—a final document was adopted to bring climate policy home, or “Global MutiraoAs always at UN climate conferences, it was a compromise – but one that seemed to be defined by a relinquishment of ambition rather than an attempt at real compromise.
At the core of the outcome is the failure of rich countries, which, although they struggle weakening political consensus on climateAnd cuts in aid budgets – Commit to tripling the aid available to poorer countries to adapt to climate change by 2030. Instead, the deadline was pushed back to 2035, although this would be part of an existing pledge to provide $300 billion in climate finance agreed last year, rather than additional funding as the world's least developed countries are doing. asked.
The symbolism was hard to shake when part of the conference venue caught fire on Thursday (Kevin Mugnoli)
Meanwhile, a promise to develop a “road map” to help countries transition away from fossil fuels, which was supported by Brazilian President Lula at discovery of Cop30 – did not appear in the text due to intense lobbying from Saudi Arabia and other countries. Language calling for improvements to interim emissions targets, which the UN said ahead of Cop30 would only lead to emissions cuts of about 10 percent by 2035, was also notably weak.
The two sides worked through the night to hammer out an agreement, and negotiators appeared exhausted as they gathered for the final plenary session in Belem. “I was there all night, and at 8 a.m. this morning we came to an agreement,” said Emmanuel Yarkpavolo, Liberia's chief negotiator. Independent. “There are some good results… It shows us that multilateralism still works and the Paris Agreement works. Without it, the planet will be in very bad shape.”
As Yarkpavolo confirms, reaching any agreement is an achievement given how far apart the countries are. But there is no denying that Cop30 has failed to meet the dual challenge of closing the decarbonisation ambition gap and increasing the amount of money available for poorer countries as climate impacts escalate.
“Cop30 has been a failure for communities on the front lines of the climate crisis,” said Debbie Hillier, UNFCCC policy director at the non-governmental organization Mercy Corps. “Ten years after the Paris Agreement, which was supposed to be an “implementation meeting,” leaders left Belém, Brazil, without making the commitments needed to protect people already living with the devastating effects of climate change.”
“Financing adaptation is not an abstract phenomenon,” she continued. “It will determine whether farmers can protect their crops, whether coastal communities can strengthen coastlines, whether health systems can cope with climate-related disease outbreaks, and whether countries can build resilience rather than lose hard-won development gains.”
Mohamed Adow, director of the Nairobi-based think tank Power Shift Africa, called Cop30 “small steps in the right direction” but added that “sustaining this process alone will not cool the planet.” WaterAid's Sol Oyuela said the ambitions of the wider package agreed in Belem ultimately “failed those most affected by climate change”.
The Cop30 attendee arrived at the conference room with his luggage as negotiations continued Saturday (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved).
At the final plenary session on Saturday, with Amazonian rain echoing through the hall, there were serious concerns among delegates about Brazil's handling of the process, with complaints about the transparency of procedures and concerns that some countries were being ignored.
But more broadly, there is a sense in Belém that these negotiations have stalled due to the failure of other influential climate-friendly countries to take a leadership role.
EU, distracted by the war in Ukraine as well as the rise of right-wing populists, was no longer the moral authority it once was. A UK with a weak government and a budget on the horizon may failed to live up to its former climate mantle – while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, formerly one of the world's leading climate activists as governor of the Bank of England, officially announced plans to double the country's liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity in the middle of the Cope.
The US – which has traditionally been the country best placed to put pressure on key blockader Saudi Arabia – was, of course, completely absent from the conference, although it hopes that China, the world's largest emitter and by far the world's largest producer of renewable technologiesto take on the mantle of climate leadership at the summit did not materialize.
“China was under very little pressure in the Cop30 negotiating rooms, largely a result of the absence of the US and a fragmented EU,” said Kate Logan, who followed the talks closely at the Asia Society Policy Institute. Independent. “Officials see little incentive to push ambitions aggressively, especially since they can point to China's leadership in driving down the cost of clean technologies around the world.”
China, the EU and the rest of the world's great powers may continue to debate climate year after year at UN climate conferences, but as time continues to tick towards irreversible climate destruction, it is the world's least developed countries will have to suffer more and more.
“The COP process may need some reform,” admitted Mohamed Adou Independent after the final result is published. “The need for a unanimous vote means it only takes one country to veto progress, giving fossil fuel countries undue power to block change.
“Fortunately, we can still take some solace in the fact that in the real world, clean energy technologies are still advancing at a rapid pace, and the benefits wind and solar energy are rapidly being adopted“
This article was produced as part of The Independent. Rethinking global aid project
