From Deforestation To Fossil Fuels What Did Countries Actually Agree

Leo Migdal

-Dec 3, 2025, 10:39 AM

from deforestation to fossil fuels what did countries actually agree

All eyes turned to Belém this weekend as divided nations scrambled to deliver a final deal at a UN climate conference battered by “roaring political headwinds”. COP30 kicked off with high hopes for a historic outcome, if not solely due to its poignant proximity to the Amazon rainforest, a crucial regulator of the climate. It was also the first UN climate talk where a US delegate was completely absent, following Donald Trump’s controversial decision to abandon the Paris Agreement. The charismatic heft of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva fuelled the push for an ambitious final deal. But, did any of this actually help in the end - and what has two weeks of strung-out negotiations actually achieved? Here are five key outcomes from COP30, and what they mean for the future.

While transitioning away from fossil fuels wasn’t originally on COP30’s official agenda, political momentum around the issue rapidly transformed it into a flashpoint discussion during negotiations. COP30 President André Aranha Corrêa do speaks during a plenary session of the COP30 UN Climate Change Conference in Belem, Brazil on 21 November, 2025. Photo: PABLO PORCIUNCULA / AFP The COP30 climate summit has drawn to a close after two weeks in the Amazonian city of Belem where protests, street marches and even a fire caused unexpected moments of drama. Beneath enormous tents erected over a former airport at the edge of the rainforest, nations also adopted some decisions on how to battle climate change. Here are the main negotiated outcomes, and the voluntary commitments, made during the summit attended by nearly 200 nations:

The thorniest issues were bundled into a "mutirao" pact - the summit's slogan, drawn from the Tupi-Guarani word for "collective effort." The 2025 UN climate talks wrapped on Saturday, Nov. 22 after negotiations pushed into overtime. The resulting decision secured some important wins, both inside and outside the negotiations. But it omitted some of the big-ticket items many hoped to see. With efforts to halt temperature rise severely off track and climate disasters becoming ever-more destructive, the summit (COP30) aimed to establish clear pathways to deliver past pledges and put the world on a safer...

A key question was how countries would address lagging ambition in their new climate commitments (NDCs). Hopes that countries would commit to roadmaps to end fossil fuel use and halt deforestation were ultimately dashed after opposition from petrostates. The final decision only included new voluntary initiatives to accelerate national climate action, though the Brazilian Presidency intends to move forward with fossil fuel and deforestation roadmaps outside of the formal COP talks. Building resilience to climate impacts took center stage, with COP30 securing a new target to triple finance for climate adaptation. The COP also laid out practical solutions to increase finance for the low-carbon transition. In an era of trade wars and tariffs, negotiators also agreed for the first time to hold discussions on how trade policies can help — or hinder — climate action.

Against the backdrop of the Amazon, nature also saw advances, including a new fund for tropical forest conservation. Indigenous Peoples and other local communities were recognized like never before. And outside the formal negotiations, the summit saw a raft of new pledges and action plans from cities, states, countries and the private sector. It is clear that we are moving from negotiations to implementation, and from wrangling over what to do to how to do it. These victories matter. It shows that international cooperation can still deliver, despite deepening divides on climate action and a difficult geopolitical context.

The UN climate summit has agreed on a deal that does not include a roadmap for the phaseout of fossil fuels. DW has more. Nearly 200 nations have agreed on a deal after the 30th annual UN climate conference was extended. The European Union had said it would not stand in the way, but denounced the lack of ambition in the draft agreement, which omits any direct mention of phasing out fossil fuels. The summit was extended into Saturday after delegates had failed to seal a deal, with fossil fuels one of the main sticking points. Follow along for the latest news, background and analysis from the COP30 climate conference in Brazil:

COP30 final agreement omits fossil fuels Countries also left deforestation on the sidelines but agreed to more funding for climate adaptation efforts by low-income countries The latest chemistry news, including important research advances, business and policy trends, chemical safety practices, career guidance, and more. Belém, Brazil—The agreement that emerged on Saturday from this year’s Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) summit in Brazil included more money for low-income countries’... But the final text lacked any explicit mention of the fossil fuels that the global economy is meant to be transitioning away from. In addition, while the summit was branded the “rainforest COP,” the agreement lacked a concrete plan to end deforestation.

Instead, Brazil, Colombia, and others are now organizing voluntary initiatives, outside the official UN process, for those looking to end both deforestation and the use of fossil fuels. The world struck a new climate deal at the COP30 summit in Brazil Saturday, which calls for a tripling of funding to help countries adapt to increasingly severe climate impacts. But countries failed to agree to a roadmap away from fossil fuels, after entrenched divisions threatened to collapse the talks. The agreement came after more than two weeks of increasingly fraught negotiations between representatives of more than 190 countries in the port city of Belém, known as the gateway to the Amazon. Disagreements reached such fever pitch there were fears the summit would collapse with no deal. Talks stretched overtime as dozens of nations pushed back against an outcome that didn’t explicitly mention a transition away from oil, coal and gas — the drivers of the climate crisis.

But just after midday local time Saturday, the COP30 president André Corrêa do Lago gaveled through a deal. The final text contained no mention of fossil fuels, signaling a retreat from consensus agreements only two years old. It included only a general agreement on deforestation, rather than more explicit commitments, which had been another key issue in the negotiations. More than 80 countries, including Colombia, the UK and France, supported the concept of a “roadmap” to transition away from fossil fuels, building on a commitment made at COP28 in Dubai in 2023. However, intense opposition from petrostates — including Saudi Arabia and Russia — and other heavy fossil fuels users prevented consensus. The COP30 climate summit has drawn to a close after two weeks in the Amazonian city of Belem where protests, street marches and even a fire caused unexpected moments of drama.

But beneath enormous tents erected over a former airport at the edge of the rainforest, nations also adopted some decisions on how to battle climate change. Here are the main negotiated outcomes, and the voluntary commitments, made during the summit attended by nearly 200 nations: The thorniest issues were bundled into a "mutirao" pact -- the summit's slogan, drawn from the Tupi-Guarani word for "collective effort." The agreement included an initiative for countries to collaborate on a voluntary basis to reduce carbon emissions and strive to limit global warming to 1.5C relative to pre-industrial levels. It also noted a commitment made by all nations at COP28 in Dubai to "transition away from fossil fuels" -- but this exact phrase, which has become politically sensitive, was not included. The COP30 climate summit – held in the city of Belém, on the edge of the Amazon rainforest – saw the Brazilian presidency launch a new forest fund and promise a “roadmap” to put...

Almost every country in the world signed off on a final COP30 package called the “global mutirão” – meaning “collective efforts” – after two weeks of talks ran into overtime amid deepening divisions, compromises... Countries also agreed on a set of indicators for countries to track their efforts on climate adaptation, including within the food and agriculture sectors. Brazil’s much-anticipated tropical forest fund, launched just before COP30 officially began, raised $6.6bn, more than half of which will come from Norway and Germany. In the second week of the negotiations, dozens of countries backed plans to agree on roadmaps to guide the move away from fossil fuels and deforestation.

From Deforestation To Fossil Fuels What Did Countries Actually Agree

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