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Un Climate Change Conference Delegates Reach Last Minute Agreement But

Leo Migdal
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un climate change conference delegates reach last minute agreement but

The agreement does not include a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels worldwide. It took an extra day, but delegates at COP30, the United Nations' climate conference, have reached a deal on a final agreement. The agreement, however, falls far short of the high expectations many delegates, environmental groups and non-governmental organizations had going into the annual conference in Belém, Brazil. Despite more than 80 countries calling for a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels worldwide, the primary cause of human-amplified climate change, that demand did not make it into the final text. Although the conference took place in what's called the "gateway to the Amazon," the COP30 agreement also doesn't include any significant new initiatives to stop deforestation and protect the Amazon rainforest, known as "the... Delegates at COP30, this year’s UN climate change conference, finalized a deal on the conference’s concluding agreement, yet it falls well short of the high expectations of many delegates, NGOs, and environmental groups, according...

Although over 80 countries meeting in Belem, Brazil called for a global roadmap to phase out fossil fuels — the main driver of human-induced climate change — no such proposal was included in the... Although the conference was held in the so-called "gateway to the Amazon," the agreement failed to introduce any major new measures to halt deforestation and safeguard the Amazon rainforest, often called "the lungs of... "The venue bursting into flames couldn't be a more apt metaphor for COP30's catastrophic failure to take concrete action to implement a funded and fair fossil fuel phaseout," Jean Su, energy justice director at... "These negotiations keep hitting a wall because wealthy nations profiting off polluting fossil fuels fail to offer the needed financial support to developing countries and any meaningful commitment to move first," she added. André Corrêa do Lago, center, the president of the COP30 climate conference in Brazil, sat as negotiators huddled in last-minute deliberations on Saturday. Andre Penner/AP hide caption

BELÉM, Brazil — This year's United Nations global climate conference in Brazil ended on Saturday with a formal agreement that failed to address phasing out fossil fuels — the main driver of global warming. The United States was conspicuously absent from this year's talks, known as COP30, after the Trump administration refused to send a delegation to Belém, Brazil. In the end, the conference delivered only modest progress on international efforts to curb global warming and pay for the costs of adapting to a hotter planet. Earlier in the week, more than 80 countries had demanded negotiators agree to a "roadmap" to transition the global economy away from fossil fuels. The group included many developing nations hit hard by climate change, along with the United Kingdom, Germany, and oil producers like Mexico and Brazil. A voluntary plan to curb fossil fuels, a goal to triple adaptation finance and new efforts to “strengthen” climate targets have been launched at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil.

After all-night negotiations in the Amazonian city of Belém, the Brazilian presidency released a final package termed the “global mutirão” – a name meaning “collective efforts”. It was an attempt to draw together controversial issues that had divided the fortnight of talks, including finance, trade policies and meeting the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C temperature goal. A “mechanism” to help ensure a “just transition” globally and a set of measures to track climate-adaptation efforts were also among COP30’s notable outcomes. Scores of nations that had backed plans to “transition away” from fossil fuels and “reverse deforestation” instead accepted COP30 president André Corrêa do Lago’s compromise proposal of “roadmaps” outside the formal UN regime. Last week marked the close of the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Belém, Brazil. COP30, billed by some as the COP of “truth” or “implementation,” sought to advance key issues tied to the climate goals established under the Paris Agreement, now ten years in effect.

Below is an overview of the most notable developments from Belém and the emerging expectations for future climate action. A much reported takeaway from COP30 is the fact that it concluded without agreement on a unified roadmap to phase down fossil fuel use. More than 80 countries reportedly pushed for a detailed global plan. But consensus proved elusive, underscoring persistent geopolitical and economic divisions, and the term “fossil fuels” does not appear in the final COP30 decision text—the Global Mutirão (a Brazilian term derived from the indigenous Tupi-Guarani... Instead, the outcome defers the issue to voluntary national and regional processes and a Brazil‑led initiative outside the formal UNFCCC track focused on developing transition strategies. Attention also focused on the absence of US federal officials, marking the first COP in 30 years without formal US government representation.

This absence reflects the Trump Administration’s climate and energy policy positions and its narrower approach to multilateral climate engagement. In contrast, California Governor Gavin Newsom attended COP30, sharply criticizing federal climate policy and positioning California—the world’s fourth‑largest economy—as a “stable and reliable partner” for global climate mitigation efforts. At the same time, many observers viewed COP30 as an important step in sustaining international climate cooperation amid significant geopolitical and market headwinds. COP30 involved consultations on several key topics, led by pairs of developed and developing countries, including adaptation, finance, mitigation, just transition, technology, and gender. The Global Mutirão decision document emphasizes progress made over the past decade, including rapid technological advancements, falling clean‑energy costs, and record investment in renewable power and low‑carbon infrastructure. It also expressly reaffirms the commitment made in the Paris Agreement to pursue efforts to limit the global average temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and “acknowledges that the global transition towards low...

Below are additional high level takeaways from COP30: 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.

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