Look beyond CoP-30 for clues to our failure on climate action

The leaders of powerful countries have shown a weak will to act

- DAVID FICKLING is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering climate change and energy.

Major world powers need to be on board for effective climate action.

(AP)

Another climate conference, another failed climate conference. That's the sense you might get from the anguished statements that emerged from the close of CoP-30 in Belém, Brazil. Hopes that the final communiqué would incorporate a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels were dashed. A planned $125 billion fund for forest protection ended up with just $6 billion or so committed.

That assessment confuses where we're going wrong on climate, however—and what we're getting right.

Take the weird refusal to mention 'fossil fuels' in the agreement. That's not quite the disaster it appears to be. Given that oil exporters could veto every word of the text, it’s remarkable that such references ever made it through the drafting process. The fact that they are now balking more aggressively at naming the problem we all face is a sign not of the failure of the energy transition, but of its success.