How the EU banished its climate demons and salvaged a weak COP30 deal • The Europeans took a stand but struggled to build a coalition to push for more climate action at this year’s U.N. summit.

https://www.politico.eu/article/how-eu-banished-climate-demons-salvaged-weak-cop30-deal/

by Naurgul

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  1. After a year of infighting that [ended in a last-minute deal](https://www.politico.eu/article/draft-deal-weaker-85-percent-domestic-climate-target-eu-2040-environment-emissions/) on new pollution-cutting targets just before the annual U.N. conference began, the EU sought to make the case for greater global efforts to fight climate change. 

    But in Belém, the Amazonian host city of COP30, the 27-country bloc was confronted with a stark geopolitical reality. In the absence of the United States, which at past conferences worked with the Europeans to push for more climate action, the EU struggled to fight against the combined weight of China, India, Saudi Arabia and other rising economic powers. 

    The end result was not what the EU had fought for — though the bloc eked out a handful of concessions after threatening to [veto the deal on Friday](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/21/eu-threatens-to-block-weak-cop30-deal-00664413). 

    To appease the EU, as well as a small group of other holdouts such as the United Kingdom and Colombia, the Brazilian presidency of COP30 tweaked its draft deal to affirm a previous agreement on transitioning away from fossil fuels and offered to start a discussion on how to achieve that deal over the next year. 

    Developed countries also won changes to a proposal to triple financing for poorer countries to prepare for climate disasters, which will now be provided later than developing nations wanted and draw funds from sources beyond rich countries’ budgets. 

    Europeans failed to build an alliance strong enough to counter the Saudi-led opposition — an effort hampered by geopolitical headwinds as well as internal divisions that had followed the EU from Brussels all the way to Belém. 

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    ##See also:

    * [EU leads isolated group of countries pushing for global climate action • ‘Axis of obstruction’ stalls progress with poor and middle-income countries reluctant to quit fossil fuels despite peril](https://www.ft.com/content/0efb1bb9-9db5-415c-85e0-5efa0b9e1050) (Financial Times)
    * [Here’s what’s next in the fight to curb climate change, now that talks in Brazil have ended](https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-cop30-belem-brazil-united-nations-1e4a535b5416f59deae0303ebd422288) (Associated Press)

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