COP30 ends with weak deal; Brazil to launch road maps

World governments reached a compromise climate deal on Saturday after nearly a week of talks that pitted developed against developing countries over who should bear the burden of climate action.

- Jayashree Nandi

The water of the Grand Canal in Venice has been dyed green in a protest by climate activists on Saturday.

(REUTERS)

Rich nations resisted strong language on delivering climate finance while developing countries refused a fossil fuel phaseout roadmap without guaranteed support for transition.

The agreement secured at COP30, which was scheduled to close midweek but dragged on until Saturday afternoon, establishes work programmes and makes aspirational calls for more climate finance but omits any mention of fossil fuels in the formal text and weakens earlier commitments on adaptation funding.

In a press briefing after the decision was gavelled, Brazil's climate envoy André Lago announced he would independently create two roadmaps - one on halting and reversing deforestation and another on transitioning away from fossil fuels in a just, orderly and equitable manner.

"As President Lula said at the opening of this COP, we need roadmaps so that humanity in a just and planned manner can overcome its dependence on fossil fuels, halt and reverse deforestation and mobilise resources for these purposes," Lago said.

The statement underscored the gap between what the Brazilian presidency hoped to achieve and what nearly 200 nations could agree upon. The roadmaps Lago proposes would exist outside the formal UN climate framework, raising questions about their authority and implementation.

The agreement, titled "The Global Mutirão: Uniting humanity in a global mobilisation against climate change", delivered wins for India on three fronts: a two-year work programme on climate finance obligations, softened language on unilateral trade measures, and initiatives to keep the 1.5℃ warming goal alive. However, it significantly diluted earlier commitments on adaptation finance.