COP30 talks in crisis as oil-producing nations block reference to fossil fuel phaseout in final deal

Negotiators scrambled Friday to salvage UN climate talks in Brazil as oil-producing nations were accused of resisting any reference to a fossil fuel phaseout in the final deal.

After nearly two weeks of negotiations in the Amazonian city of Belem, a new draft agreement unveiled by COP30 host Brazil made no mention of “fossil fuels” or the word “roadmap” that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had himself publicly supported.

European Union climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said the text was “unacceptable” and that the summit risked ending without an agreement.

“I am saying it with a heavy heart, but what is now on the table is clearly no deal,” Hoekstra told reporters as negotiators huddled again in efforts to reach a compromise.

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More than 30 countries - including wealthy nations, emerging economies and small island states - had warned in a letter to Brazil that they would reject any deal that did not include a plan to move away from fossil fuels.

France’s ecological transition minister, Monique Barbut, told AFP that oil-rich Russia and Saudi Arabia, along with coal producer India and “many” emerging countries, were blocking a deal on fossil fuels.

German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider said the latest draft “cannot remain as it is” and warned that “negotiations will be tough”, with only hours to go before COP30 officially ends.

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Colombia’s Environment Minister Irene Velez Torres on Friday said COP30 “cannot end” without a fossil fuel roadmap.

Consensus is needed among the nearly 200 nations to land an agreement at the UN climate conference, which this year is taking place without the United States as President Donald Trump shunned the event.

The head of COP30, Brazilian diplomat Andre Correa do Lago, said those who doubt that cooperation is the best way forward for climate change “are going to be absolutely delighted to see that we cannot reach an agreement between us.”

The conference, which was disrupted for several hours by a fire at the site on Thursday, is supposed to end on Friday evening, but UN climate summits often run into overtime.

Money fight

The push for a phaseout of oil, gas and coal - the main drivers of global warming – grew out of frustration over a lack of follow-through on the COP28 agreement in Dubai in 2023 to transition away from fossil fuels.

Divisions remain not just over fossil fuels but trade measures and finance for poorer nations to adapt to the impacts of climate change, such as floods and droughts, and move to a low-carbon future.

The rejected draft said there was a need for a “manyfold increase” in financial support for developing countries. It also called for “efforts to triple adaptation finance” by 2030 compared to 2025 levels.

“The EU is stuck with a much earlier tripling of adaptation finance than they’re comfortable with and in exchange they got nothing. No transition away from fossil fuels,” said Jake Schmidt, senior strategic director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow,” Schmidt told AFP.

Bronwen Tucker, public finance lead at advocacy group Oil Change International, called the latest draft text “outrageous.”

“The Presidency has presented a shamefully weak text that fails to mention fossil fuels, fails to deliver accountability towards rich countries’ finance obligations, and only makes vague promises on adaptation,” Tucker said.

Hoekstra said the EU was “willing to be ambitious on adaptation” but that “any language on finance should squarely be within the commitment reached last year” at COP29 in Baku, where developed nations agreed to provide $300 billion in annual climate finance by 2035.

The EU is also fighting resistance led by China and India to its “carbon tax” on imports such as steel, aluminum, cement and fertilizers - measures Britain and Canada are also preparing to adopt.

Negotiations toward a final outcome were delayed on Thursday when a fire torched a hole through the fabric ceiling of the COP30 venue, forcing a panicked evacuation.

Nineteen people were treated for smoke inhalation and two for anxiety attacks, officials said. The venue reopened later on Thursday night.