'It was on the edge' How last-minute deal averted collapse of climate talks

Dawn was breaking over the Amazonian city of Belém, but in the windowless conference room on Saturday it could have been day or night. They had been stuck here for more than 12 hours; dozens of ministers representing 17 groups of countries, from the poorest on the planet to the richest, urged by the Brazilian hosts to accept a settlement cooked up the day before.

- Fiona Harvey

Tempers were short, the air thick, as the sweaty and exhausted delegates faced up to reality: there would not be a deal here in Brazil. The 30th UN climate conference would end in abject failure.

The sticking point was fossil fuels. As science has told us for well over a century, the carbon dioxide their burning produces is heating the planet, now to dangerous levels. But in more than 30 years of annual climate meetings, the need for that process to halt has been mentioned only once - in a resolution made two years ago, at Cop28 in Dubai, to “transition away from fossil fuels”. Delegates from the Arab group of 22 nations, Russia, and a sprinkling of others, were determined it would not happen again but a growing number of countries were equally determined that progress was urgently necessary. Meanwhile, developing countries desperately wanted to move forward on securing the money to help them cope with the already disastrous impacts of extreme weather.

By the early hours of Saturday, some delegates were ready to walk out and force a collapse. “It was on the edge for us,” said Ed Miliband, the energy minister. “I was prepared to walk away.”

The breakthrough, when it came, was with Saudi Arabia. Soon after 6am, Miliband and the European Union’s climate commissioner, Wopke Hoekstra, split from the main group to hold a private conversation with the Saudis’ chief negotiator, Khalid Abuleif. They pressed on him wording that would obliquely recognise the global commitment to “transition away from fossil fuels” made in Dubai. Rather than explicitly namecheck fossil fuels, it would refer to “the UAE consensus”, the name given to the Cop28 deal.

Khalid agreed to take it away and reflect. Ministers around the room held out little hope - Saudi Arabia had been obdurate all night.

An hour later, he returned. To great surprise, the wording was accepted. Applause rang out. The deal was done.