COP Compromise

Even after running overtime for more than 18 hours, the COP30 summit at Belém, Brazil, concluded with a compromise agreement that failed to secure a pledge to phase out fossil fuels.

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In fact the terms "fossil fuels" were absent from the COP30 climate pledge. The final draft agreement, adopted by nearly 200 countries, underscored both the resilience and the limitations of climate multilateralism at a time of heightened geopolitical tension and leadership vacuums.

Nevertheless, two weeks of intense negotiations in the Amazon rainforest city challenged the assumption that global climate diplomacy is losing steam. Delegates approved an eight-page document calling for stronger national climate goals and greater financial support to vulnerable nations. Yet, the summit's most contentious issue: how and when to transition away from fossil fuels, once again exposed entrenched divides among major economic powers of the Global North and emerging economies of the Global South.