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First Post
a day ago
- Politics
- First Post
COP30 Brazil summit faces uncertainty amid global tensions
Expectations have shifted since Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's initial bid three years ago to bring the summit to the Amazon read more Brazil will host the UN climate conference COP30 in November in the Amazonian city of Belem. AFP This year's UN COP30 summit in Brazil is being viewed as an important moment in the global response to climate change, with the world nearing a critical global warming limit. However, the host country has yet to present a leading agenda for the high-stakes talks scheduled for November, prompting concerns about the event's potential impact. Preparations have been affected by ongoing conflicts in several regions and the United States' recent decisions to step back from international collaboration on climate, trade, and health. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Expectations have shifted since Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's initial bid three years ago to bring the summit to the Amazon. A recent UN climate meeting in Germany, which concluded on Thursday, revealed divisions, particularly on financial commitments, raising further questions about the progress that COP30 might achieve. Brazil is a deft climate negotiator, but the 'international context has never been so bad', said Claudio Angelo, of the Brazilian organisation Climate Observatory. Given the stakes, former UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa said Brazil may have to make do with 'baby steps'. 'One of the main messages that should be coming out of COP30 is the unity of everyone behind multilateralism and international cooperation. Not achieving that means everybody will suffer,' she told AFP. 'Failure is not an option in this case.' 'Survival' Previous COPs have been judged on the deals clinched between the nearly 200 nations that haggle over two weeks to advance global climate policy. Recent summits have produced landmark outcomes, from a global pledge to transition away from fossil fuels, to the creation of a specialised fund to help countries hit by climate disaster. COP30 CEO Ana Toni said that 'most of the big flashy topics' born out of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change had been dealt with. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD That leaves Brazil with an arguably harder challenge – trying to ensure what has been agreed is put into practice. Much of the action is set for the COP30 sidelines or before nations arrive in the Amazonian city of Belem. National climate plans due before COP30 from all countries – but most importantly major emitters China, the European Union and India – will be more consequential than this year's negotiations, experts say. It is expected this latest round of national commitments will fall well short of containing global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, and possibly even 2C, the less ambitious of the Paris accord's climate goals. 'I expect that the COP will need to react to that,' said Ana Toni, although what form that reaction would take was 'under question'. Uncertainty about how COP30 will help steer nations towards 1.5C has left the Alliance of Small Island States bloc 'concerned', said lead negotiator Anne Rasmussen. 'Our survival depends on that,' she told AFP. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Threat to humanity' How countries will make good on their promise to transition away from fossil fuels may also become a point of contention. Angelo said he hoped Brazil would champion the idea, included in the country's climate plan, of working towards 'schedules' for that transition. But he likened Brazil's auctioning of oil and gas extraction rights near the mouth of the Amazon river this month – just as climate negotiators got down to business in Bonn – to an act of 'sabotage'. Another key priority for Brazil is forest protection, but otherwise COP30 leaders have mostly focused on unfinished business from previous meetings, including fleshing out a goal to build resilience to climate impacts. According to the hosts of last year's hard-fought climate talks, global tensions might not leave room for much else. 'We need to focus more on preserving the legacy that we have established, rather than increasing ambition,' said Yalchin Rafiyev, top climate negotiator for COP29 host Azerbaijan. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD He fears that trying and failing to do more could risk undermining the whole UN process. Those close to the climate talks concede they can move frustratingly slowly, but insist the annual negotiations remain crucial. 'I don't think there's any other way to address a threat to humanity as big as this is,' Espinosa told AFP.
France 24
a day ago
- Politics
- France 24
Global tensions rattle COP30 build-up but 'failure not an option'
But the hosts are yet to propose a headline ambition for the marathon November talks, raising concerns they could fall flat. The build-up has been overshadowed by devastating conflicts on three continents and the US withdrawal from global cooperation on climate, trade and health. Expectations have dimmed since Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's pitch three years ago to host climate talks in the Amazon. A warm-up UN climate event in Germany that concluded on Thursday saw disputes flare over a range of issues, including finance, adding to anxiety about how much headway COP30 can make. Brazil is a deft climate negotiator, but the "international context has never been so bad", said Claudio Angelo, of the Brazilian organisation Climate Observatory. Given the stakes, former UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa said Brazil may have to make do with "baby steps". "One of the main messages that should be coming out of COP30 is the unity of everyone behind multilateralism and international cooperation. Not achieving that means everybody will suffer," she told AFP. "Failure is not an option in this case." - 'Survival' - Previous COPs have been judged on the deals clinched between the nearly 200 nations that haggle over two weeks to advance global climate policy. Recent summits have produced landmark outcomes, from a global pledge to transition away from fossil fuels, to the creation of a specialised fund to help countries hit by climate disaster. COP30 CEO Ana Toni said that "most of the big flashy topics" born out of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change had been dealt with. That leaves Brazil with an arguably harder challenge -- trying to ensure what has been agreed is put into practice. Much of the action is set for the COP30 sidelines or before nations arrive in the Amazonian city of Belem. National climate plans due before COP30 from all countries -- but most importantly major emitters China, the European Union and India -- will be more consequential than this year's negotiations, experts say. It is expected this latest round of national commitments will fall well short of containing global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, and possibly even 2C, the less ambitious of the Paris accord's climate goals. "I expect that the COP will need to react to that," said Ana Toni, although what form that reaction would take was "under question". Uncertainty about how COP30 will help steer nations towards 1.5C has left the Alliance of Small Island States bloc "concerned", said lead negotiator Anne Rasmussen. "Our survival depends on that," she told AFP. 'Threat to humanity' How countries will make good on their promise to transition away from fossil fuels may also become a point of contention. Angelo said he hoped Brazil would champion the idea, included in the country's climate plan, of working towards "schedules" for that transition. But he likened Brazil's auctioning of oil and gas extraction rights near the mouth of the Amazon river this month -- just as climate negotiators got down to business in Bonn -- to an act of "sabotage". Another key priority for Brazil is forest protection, but otherwise COP30 leaders have mostly focused on unfinished business from previous meetings, including fleshing out a goal to build resilience to climate impacts. According to the hosts of last year's hard-fought climate talks, global tensions might not leave room for much else. "We need to focus more on preserving the legacy that we have established, rather than increasing ambition," said Yalchin Rafiyev, top climate negotiator for COP29 host Azerbaijan. He fears that trying and failing to do more could risk undermining the whole UN process. Those close to the climate talks concede they can move frustratingly slowly, but insist the annual negotiations remain crucial. © 2025 AFP
France 24
2 days ago
- Politics
- France 24
COP30 to be held in Amazonian city despite accommodation concerns: CEO
Over the past two weeks, several COP30 country representatives and civil society organisations -- gathered in the German city of Bonn for technical climate negotiations -- have expressed concerns over the lack of affordable accommodation in the capital of Para state. There are fears that the event will only be accessible to the rich or that it will be poorly attended as a result of this. COP30 is due to be held on November 10-21 and some have speculated about a possible last-minute relocation to a larger city, such as Rio de Janeiro. "Let's be very very clear, it's all happening in Belem," COP30 CEO Ana Toni told AFP in Bonn. "We fully understand that having a COP in a very different place, in the middle of the Amazon, in a smaller city, is leading many people to be very anxious about the logistics," she said, but "there is no discussion about having (it) in any other place". Toni, who also serves as Brazil's national secretary for climate change, said that the government was aware and working on solutions. "The concern that remains, as far as I understand, is the cost of accommodation rather than logistics in general," she said. "It is the private sector, it is not something that the government controls, but the Brazilian government is taking measures... to ensure that the prices of accommodation are controlled," she added. Claudio Angelo, a member of the Brazilian Climate Observatory collective, said "everybody's concerned because at this point, five months to the date, everybody should have hotels and no one has". "So delegations are thinking about cutting back on numbers of delegates," he told AFP, adding that many small developing countries or island states have limited resources.
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
COP30 host Brazil warns against over-reliance on carbon credits
FILE PHOTO: Ana Toni, CEO of COP30 and Brazil's National Secretary for Climate Change, attends the opening ceremony of the ChangeNOW 2025 summit at the Grand Palais in Paris, France, April 24, 2025. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier/File Photo BONN - Countries should not over-rely on buying carbon credits to meet climate targets, the chief executive of this year's U.N. COP30 summit said on Thursday, as the European Union readies a new emissions goal that may include credits for the first time. The European Commission is due to propose a new EU climate target for 2040 on July 2, and has said the legally binding goal should be to cut emissions by 90%. But faced with pushback from some governments, Brussels is considering a lower target for domestic industries, and buying international carbon credits to make up the gap to 90%, Reuters has previously reported. They allow a country to buy "credits" from projects that reduce CO2 emissions abroad - for example, forest restoration in Brazil or Guyana - and count them towards its own climate goal. Proponents say this is a way to raise funding for CO2-cutting projects in developing nations. Opponents point to recent scandals, where credit-generating projects were found to not deliver the climate benefits they claimed. Ana Toni, CEO of the COP30 climate summit, which will take place in the Brazilian city of Belem in November, said Brazil did not oppose the use of carbon credits in countries' targets - known at the U.N. as nationally determined contributions - but warned against relying on them to meet a large chunk of a country's climate target. "The amount is important, because it shows how much you change in your own economy ... if it's really a big amount of (credits), you're not changing your own economy," she told Reuters. Toni also said countries must ensure any credits used to meet climate targets deliver quality environmental benefits. While the view of Brazil, as COP host, is not binding on delegations, it is responsible for guiding the negotiations at the gathering and also doing the diplomatic work to try to get countries to set ambitious goals. Nearly 200 countries faced a February deadline to submit their 2035 climate targets to the United Nations. Most, including the 27-country EU and China, missed it. The EU is expected to present its 2035 and 2040 climate goals together next week. EU countries are divided over how much of their 2040 target should be met through credits. Germany has proposed using credits to meet 3 percentage points of the 90% goal, while countries including France suggest a bigger share, officials said. EU members including Denmark and Finland say credits are not needed at all. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
COP30 host Brazil warns against over-reliance on carbon credits
BONN, June 26 (Reuters) - Countries should not over-rely on buying carbon credits to meet climate targets, the chief executive of this year's U.N. COP30 summit said on Thursday, as the European Union readies a new emissions goal that may include credits for the first time. The European Commission is due to propose a new EU climate target for 2040 on July 2, and has said the legally binding goal should be to cut emissions by 90%. But faced with pushback from some governments, Brussels is considering a lower target for domestic industries, and buying international carbon credits to make up the gap to 90%, Reuters has previously reported. They allow a country to buy "credits" from projects that reduce CO2 emissions abroad - for example, forest restoration in Brazil or Guyana - and count them towards its own climate goal. Proponents say this is a way to raise funding for CO2-cutting projects in developing nations. Opponents point to recent scandals, where credit-generating projects were found to not deliver the climate benefits they claimed. Ana Toni, CEO of the COP30 climate summit, which will take place in the Brazilian city of Belem in November, said Brazil did not oppose the use of carbon credits in countries' targets - known at the U.N. as nationally determined contributions - but warned against relying on them to meet a large chunk of a country's climate target. "The amount is important, because it shows how much you change in your own economy ... if it's really a big amount of (credits), you're not changing your own economy," she told Reuters. Toni also said countries must ensure any credits used to meet climate targets deliver quality environmental benefits. While the view of Brazil, as COP host, is not binding on delegations, it is responsible for guiding the negotiations at the gathering and also doing the diplomatic work to try to get countries to set ambitious goals. Nearly 200 countries faced a February deadline to submit their 2035 climate targets to the United Nations. Most, including the 27-country EU and China, missed it. The EU is expected to present its 2035 and 2040 climate goals together next week. EU countries are divided over how much of their 2040 target should be met through credits. Germany has proposed using credits to meet 3 percentage points of the 90% goal, while countries including France suggest a bigger share, officials said. EU members including Denmark and Finland say credits are not needed at all.
