Global coalition calls for fossil fuel phaseout at Cop30

More than 80 countries have joined a call for a roadmap to phasing out fossil fuels in a dramatic intervention into stalled negotiations at the UN Cop30 climate summit.

- Fiona Harvey Jon Watts Belém

Countries from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific joined with EU member states and the UK to make an impassioned plea for the “transition away from fossil fuels” to be a central outcome of the talks, despite stiff opposition from petrostates and some other major economies.

Tina Stege, the climate envoy for the Marshall Islands, flanked by ministers from more than 20 countries, told a packed press conference in Belém: “Let’s get behind the idea of a fossil fuel roadmap - let’s work together and make it a plan.”

Campaigners hailed the intervention. Jasper Inventor, a deputy programme director at Greenpeace International, said: “This could be the turning point of Cop30. This was a strong signal coming from global south and global north countries on the need to phase out fossil fuels. They are following the call of 40,000 people on the streets of Belém and millions of people around the world. The presidency [of the Cop] and the rest of the parties have to heed this call. The climate needs it; the people demand it.”