COP30 climate talks in Brazil reach tentative deal after overrunning

BELEM, Brazil – A tentative deal has emerged after the UN climate conference COP30 Brazil overran its scheduled end.

The draft released on Nov 22 morning called for efforts to triple funding for developing countries to cope with the impacts of climate change by 2035, with the European Union backing the deal after all-night negotiations.

The updated deal, however, failed to explicitly mention steps to phase out planet-warming fossil fuels, which had been supported by the EU and more than 80 governments during the two-week conference.

Ahead of the summit’s closing ceremony, EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra wearily told reporters that the proposed deal was a step in the right direction, even though the bloc would have liked to see more ambition.

“We are not going to hide the fact that we would have preferred to have more, to have more ambition on everything,” he said. “And yet, the world is what it is.”

The conference commenced its final meeting to pass the deal on Nov 22 afternoon.

Singapore’s Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said in an interview on Nov 21 that the Republic was still hopeful that countries would come to a consensus.

She added that leaving the conference with some agreement is better than none. This comes as other parties refused to back down on their stance on fossil fuels, with some saying that “no deal is better than a bad deal”.

A member of the European Parliament’s delegation to COP30, Mr Bas Eickhout, had previously said on Nov 21 that the “failure to reach an agreement on a road map to transition away from fossil fuels would not only be a big win for petrostates, but also for Trump and his hard-right allies”.

At a press conference that morning led by Colombia, Panama’s special representative for climate change Juan Carlos Moneterrey Gomez said: “Failing to name the causes of the climate crisis is not compromise. It is denial. It is criminal.”

Meanwhile, France’s Ecological Transition Minister Monique Barbut told AFP that the fossil fuel-dependent economies of Russia, Saudi Arabia and India, along with many emerging countries, are against the phase-out.

Speaking to Singapore media less than two hours before the talks were due to officially wrap up on Nov 21, Ms Fu said the feedback from different negotiating groups had been “very strong”, adding: “We still have some work to do, as far as I can see.”

Calling the debate over fossil fuels “one of the most contentious issues right now”, she said Singapore is prepared to stay with the status quo where no road map to phase out fossil fuels is mentioned in the final conference outcome, as this will help overcome the deadlock.

“We don’t really have much skin in this game, because in general, we are agreeing on decarbonisation, and we are agreeing that we need to decarbonise our power sector,” she added.

“It is so important for us to show that COP is relevant, and that COP remains the only place, and the place, for all parties around the world to have that discussion,” she added.

“So, for me, we will try as much as possible to land, and to land at a good place.”

At COP30, one of the closely watched issues was how fossil fuels – the burning of which is the main driver of modern climate change – will be referenced in the final outcome.

Despite being at the heart of the climate crisis, fossil fuels are historically one of the most contentious issues at the annual conferences.

For one thing, it took nearly three decades’ worth of UN climate talks before countries finally committed, for the first time, to transitioning away from the planet-warming power sources in 2023.

This commitment appeared to waver in 2024, with the need to transition away from fossil fuels disappearing from the final text at COP29, hosted by the fossil fuel-dependent economy of Azerbaijan.

Observer groups, non-governmental organisations and more than 80 governments were hopeful that COP30 will refocus global attention on the need to phase out coal, oil and gas.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had reignited such talks ahead of the climate conference, when he called on world leaders to draw up road maps to overcome a dependence on fossil fuels.

But in the second version of the negotiation texts released in the wee hours of Nov 21, all references to fossil fuels had been scrubbed.

At least 29 countries had threatened to block the agreement if it did not commit to phasing out fossil fuels, British media outlet The Guardian reported.

Other key issues on the table included how much finance should be channelled from developed countries to developing ones, especially in terms of helping them finance adaptation efforts to protect their people and infrastructure from escalating climate impacts.

There was unhappiness among developing countries after a revised version of the deal mentioned that developed nations should make “efforts” to triple the amount of adaptation finance they provide to developing countries from 2025 levels by 2030. Such language is seen to be weaker than the original text “urging” developed countries to do so, as it confers less obligation on the richer nations.

Ms Fu said that as a member of the Alliance of Small Island States – one of 16 negotiating groups at the summit – Singapore supports developing nations in their request for more resources on adaptation finance.

In a press conference on Nov 20, the alliance said cash-strapped developing countries on the front lines of climate change are forced to pump a growing share of their domestic resources into adaptation, in part because of barriers to tapping international funds.

An ideal deal for Singapore would involve mentions of accountability for climate goals, public finance for developing countries as they face difficulties raising funds, and stronger action to help the world adapt to the impacts of climate change, added Ms Fu.

Parties were prepared to talk to resolve the deadlock on adaptation, she said. “I think that’s always a positive sign.”

The deadlock in negotiations was but the latest hiccup to hit the summit, with delegates having had to endure over the last two weeks faulty air-conditioning, a security breach when protesters stormed the venue, and even a blaze that on Nov 20 burned a hole through the roof of the venue, sparking a full evacuation.

Still, progress had been made on certain fronts, with Singapore set to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Brazil that will pave the way for the South American country to sell carbon credits to the Republic.

The signing – which will be the second such MOU Singapore inks at COP30 after an earlier one with Malawi – had been disrupted by the fire, which also shuttered pavilions a day earlier.

COP30 president Andre Correa do Lago appealed to parties on Nov 21 to look out for one another during a crisis, as they did during the fire, and to rise above the challenge of the US’ departure from the Paris Agreement.

“If we don’t strengthen (the agreement), everybody will lose.”

Over the past two weeks, the Singapore Pavilion welcomed over 8,000 visitors in Belem, and 30,000 unique online visitors.

Said Ms Fu: “I’m very happy with how the Singapore Pavilion has been the place to convene discussions between think-tanks, between policymakers and solutions providers, and also to activate this discussion about new sources of finance.”

The conclusion of the annual UN climate conferences is almost always plagued by delays.

In 2024, more than 33 hours of overtime had been clocked by the end of COP29.

But this still paled in comparison with the longest delay, which occurred in 2019 at Milan’s COP25, where the summit overran by nearly 44 hours.