Keys to the closing of the climate summit: from the fossil fuel taboo to adaptation

COP30 has closed without the roadmap to leave oil, gas and coal behind, but this conference in Belém has also been a test for multilateralism

There are two words that in 30 years of climate change conferences within the UN are taboo: fossil fuels. And this is despite the fact that science has been clear for many decades that they are the main responsible for the problem that is to be combated. Because when that oil, gas and coal is burned to produce energy, the greenhouse gases that are superheating the planet are emitted. But pressure from the states most dependent on these fuels has meant that the agreements and texts that come out of these meetings do not point to them directly and openly in these three decades. Only the focus is on gases and not on what causes them, which means that no targets are set to reduce their use and production. It has happened again at the climate summit in the Brazilian city of Belém, COP30. Fossil fuels have not even been mentioned in the final agreement. Much less, to the need to promote a roadmap to leave them behind, as the Brazilian president and host of the meeting, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, had proposed at the beginning of this conference in the Amazon. But Lula’s proposal has not garnered enough support. This is the chronicle of the controversial closing of the summit that we experienced in Belém on Saturday and in which the international context and the pressure of the Petro states have made that initiative fail. The taboo again.

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