“We had the European Union coordination meeting to analyze the document and the EU position is that the document is not sufficiently ambitious in mitigation, in emission reduction, and lacks an explicit reference to phasing out fossil fuels,” stated Maria da Graça Carvalho in Belém, Brazil, where the UN climate change conference is taking place.
On the final day of COP30, the Portuguese minister expressed hope that it would be possible to reach an agreement “that has some ambition, that is ambitious.”
“We were a bit disappointed not to see an explicit reference to what Brazil calls the path forward,” said the minister, adding that “an agreement that is not ambitious in mitigation does not have the necessary effect right now, which is to halt the advancement of climate change.”
The minister also confirmed that Portugal signed a letter to the Brazilian presidency of COP30, endorsed by over 30 countries, requesting a review of the final agreement proposal to include a roadmap for the gradual elimination of fossil fuels.
In the letter cited by AFP, the countries declared their inability to support “a text that does not include a roadmap for a just, orderly, and equitable transition to the elimination of fossil fuels.”
At 10:30 today (three hours less than in Portugal), an informal plenary began where each group would express their views, followed by a meeting between the Brazilian presidency of COP30 and delegation leaders to negotiate the texts.
In these meetings, the European Union will strive to increase ambition in mitigation, emission reduction, and include a point on the roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels, stated Maria da Graça Carvalho.
The Brazilian presidency of COP30 published a new agreement proposal today, which makes no reference to fossil fuel abandonment, a demand made by dozens of countries.
The seven-page proposal from the presidency of the 30th UN climate change conference (COP30), titled Global Mutual Effort: Uniting Humanity in a Global Mobilization Against Climate Change, published early today, contains no mention of fossil fuels.
Besides the Mutual Effort text—an Indigenous term for a community coming together for a common goal—the presidency released 16 other documents on topics such as mitigation and adaptation financing, the loss and damage fund, and nationally determined contributions, which are countries’ climate plans.
The need for a transition to abandon fossil fuels was officially mentioned for the first time at COP28 in Dubai, without clarification on how or when, but the Brazilian President raised the issue at the opening of COP30.
The idea of a roadmap for abandonment and the first draft presented on Tuesday by Brazil offered options for negotiation, but according to a negotiator cited by AFP, China, India, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and Russia rejected the proposal.
The text released today, published on the last official day of the conference, is limited to recognizing “record levels of global renewable energy capacity and clean energy investments.”
On Thursday, over 30 countries wrote to the Brazilian presidency of the UN climate conference, urging the inclusion of a roadmap for the gradual elimination of fossil fuels, according to a text cited by France-Presse.
“We are deeply concerned by the current proposal, to accept or reject,” write Colombia, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and more than three dozen countries, according to a list provided by the Colombian delegation to AFP.
