Express at COP30: Countries reject draft text as it skips roadmap on fossil fuel phase-out

“We cannot support an outcome that does not include a roadmap for implementing a just, orderly and equitable transition away from fossil fuels. This expectation is shared by a vast majority of Parties… in its present form, the proposal (draft text) does not meet the minimum conditions required for a credible COP outcome,” the 29 countries said in a joint letter.

The political package was meant to address four long-standing concerns of different groups of countries. These concerns could not be accommodated in the official agenda of the COP30 meeting because of the deep differences between the countries on these issues. In order to ensure that these issues do not become a roadblock to progress on the other items on the agenda, COP30 presidency Brazil had conducted several rounds of consultations on these difficult issues, and had planned a separate outcome document addressing each of these issues.

Two of the issues were dear to the developing countries including India, while the other two were being pushed largely by the developed world.

The four issues included the demand of the developing countries regarding full implementation of the finance provision contained in Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement. These countries claimed that this particular provision had been ignored till now. Their other concern, voiced repeatedly by India and China, was related to trade measures like Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) imposed by the European Union. These countries argued that CBAM was a unilateral and discriminatory trade practice disguised as climate action.

The developed countries had been asking for raising of mitigation ambition in pursuance of the 1.5 degree Celsius target mentioned in the Paris Agreement. Their other issue related to greater transparency in reporting of climate actions.

Weaved into these four broad issues were demands for a roadmap on phase-out of fossil fuels and a tripling of adaptation finance.

The draft text that emerged on Friday addressed none of these issues in any concrete manner. It completely avoided any mention of fossil fuel phase-out, and proposed a two-year work programme on climate finance to discuss all matters related to finance, including Article 9.1, which was basically kicking the can further down the road.

On unilateral trade measures, the draft said that the countries agreed that responses to climate change must not constitute a means of “arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination or a disguised restriction on international trade” and proposed further discussions on different platforms on this issue.

The draft political package was rejected almost immediately by the group that had been pushing for inclusion of a language on fossil fuel phase-out. Their representative Colombia called a press conference to announce that the draft package was unacceptable to it.

Colombian Environment Minister Irene Velez Torres told reporters that the problem was “the methodology of consensus”. Any decision at COP meeting can only be arrived through consensus, which means nothing is agreed till everyone agrees.

“The problem right now is this methodology of consensus, because this (process of) consensus has turned into a veto. And what is being left aside (as a result) is the ambitious agenda. The most ambitious agenda has been eliminated. Veto is what is happening here,” Torres said.

Like almost every other meeting before it, COP30 is also set to get extended, with negotiators expected to work through the night to come up with another draft that can be agreeable to everyone.

The writer is in Belem to cover COP30 as part of his fellowship on investigative journalism on climate reporting under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.