{"id":255319,"date":"2025-07-11T04:59:34","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T04:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/255319\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T04:59:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T04:59:34","slug":"transition-from-fossil-fuels-can-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/255319\/","title":{"rendered":"Transition from fossil fuels can start"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to the most important thing to curb climate change \u2013 moving away from planet-heating fossil fuels \u2013 governments have done enough negotiating, and their focus now should be on putting what they already agreed into practice, Brazil\u2019s COP30 president told Climate Home News.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That does not require repeating language in new UN texts or even consensus among countries about how to transition from coal, oil and gas, although they could choose to design a roadmap for that energy shift at this year\u2019s climate summit in the Amazon, Andr\u00e9 Aranha Corr\u00eaa do Lago said in an exclusive interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve all already decided that we\u2019re going to transition away from fossil fuels. What can be done in the negotiations is, for example, to decide that there will be a timeline or rules for how this transition will be made \u2013 whether it will be one type of country or another, which of the fossil fuels will come first etc,\u201d he said, speaking in Spanish on a video call from Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n

The comments from Brazil\u2019s top climate diplomat, who is vice-minister for climate, energy and environment at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, build on a proposal floated by the country\u2019s environment minister last month in response to a question from Climate Home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Brazil\u2019s environment minister suggests roadmap to end fossil fuels at COP30<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Speaking to journalists in London, Marina Silva<\/a> said COP30 could result in a roadmap setting out what a \u201cplanned and just transition to end fossil fuels\u201d \u2013 as agreed at the COP28 Dubai summit in 2023<\/a> \u2013 should look like.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps we can come out of COP30 with a mandated group that can trace the roadmap for this transition,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Corr\u00eaa do Lago noted in the interview that Silva \u201cleft it open in her statement whether [a roadmap] will be something negotiated or something that will be built\u201d, adding that \u201cseveral countries\u201d believe such a plan would first require a formal COP decision to produce one.<\/p>\n

Brazil\u2019s environment minister Marina Silva at a press conference in London. (Photo: Credit: Isabela Castilho \/ COP30 presidency)
\nBrazil\u2019s environment minister Marina Silva at a press conference in London. (Photo: Credit: Isabela Castilho \/ COP30 presidency)<\/p>\n

The COP30 president emphasised that while this is up to governments, \u201cwe can\u2019t keep the world waiting for negotiations to move forward\u201d before acting to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not true that it depends on that. There\u2019s already enough approval from countries. Individual countries can do it because implementation isn\u2019t by consensus. Implementation is that each country does what it thinks it can do,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe negotiations will continue, and there\u2019s no doubt about it. But if you consider that science tells us there\u2019s an urgency to do things, why continue waiting for high-precision negotiations to implement them? If you believe in climate urgency, we must implement them.<\/strong>\u201c<\/p>\n

COP30 President Andr\u00e9 Corr\u00eaa do Lago<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The UN Secretary-General and many researchers have argued that implementing the energy transition in a \u201cjust, orderly and equitable manner\u201d requires industrialised countries which are historically the biggest carbon polluters to move first in cutting fossil fuels, with developing countries that need to tackle poverty and a lack of energy access following later.<\/p>\n

Brazilian officials, for example, when asked about recent auctioning of oil exploration licences have said that global demand for oil is still increasing<\/a> \u2013 and there is a need to debate how to move away from this and other polluting fuels in a fair and organised way.<\/p>\n

COP to stay in Bel\u00e9m despite tricky logistics<\/p>\n

Brazil has grabbed the spotlight, for both positive and negative reasons, for deciding to hold the annual UN climate summit in the Amazon region, whose forests store massive amounts of carbon but are constantly under threat of being cut down for timber, agriculture or mining.<\/p>\n

Corr\u00eaa do Lago said President Lula\u2019s \u201coriginal idea, the symbolism of holding [COP30] in the Amazon, remains very strong\u201d \u2013 and he rebutted the idea that part or all of the climate conference could be moved from the Amazon city of Bel\u00e9m due to growing concern about a lack of suitable and affordable accommodation for the more than 50,000 delegates expected there.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The climate negotiations veteran conceded that there had been \u201cseveral requests and suggestions\u201d about shifting the main talks to bigger and more accessible cities such as Rio de Janeiro \u2013 a hotly debated topic in the Brazilian press.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the decision is to do it in the best possible way \u2013 that is very well, in Bel\u00e9m,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n


\nFor the first time, the UN annual summit COP30 will be held in the Amazon, in the city of Bel\u00e9m. (Photo: Rafa Neddermeyer\/COP30 Amaz\u00f4nia\/PR)<\/p>\n


\nFor the first time, the UN annual summit COP30 will be held in the Amazon, in the city of Bel\u00e9m. (Photo: Rafa Neddermeyer\/COP30 Amaz\u00f4nia\/PR)<\/p>\n

He added that a long-awaited official online platform to help participants find reasonably priced accommodation in the city is due to be launched on July 15 and he expected more apartments would be made available for rent.<\/p>\n

At June\u2019s mid-year talks in Bonn, African nations, small island states and the least-developed countries said they had written to the COP30 presidency warning they might not be able to attend<\/a> the negotiations due to the high cost of lodgings and travel.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegarding the management of hotels and rooms, there has been a positive reaction from the authorities and local population,\u201d Corr\u00eaa do Lago said. \u201cSoon, people will realise that the situation is much better than they imagined and that they will want to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week, the COP30 team announced<\/a> that construction to expand and improve the Outeiro Port Terminal \u2013 where two cruise ships<\/a> will house around 6,000 delegates \u2013 would be completed by mid-October.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMany apartments will start arriving because those will be days when people will not need to commute to work in Bel\u00e9m and will be able to make them available.<\/strong>\u201c<\/p>\n

COP30 President Andr\u00e9 Corr\u00eaa do Lago<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Pessimistic outlook for public climate finance<\/p>\n

Another pressing issue for negotiators once they reach Bel\u00e9m is where to find more money for climate action in developing countries, to meet the new 2035 goal agreed in Baku last year.<\/p>\n

After tense talks, which almost collapsed over the amount rich countries were prepared to put on the table, two key targets were set: $1.3 trillion a year from all public and private sources, including $300 billion raised by donor governments.<\/p>\n

Developing countries wanted far more of the headline $1.3 trillion to be public money provided as grants and cheap loans. But Corr\u00eaa do Lago said this was unlikely to happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to explain the limits of the funds, of multilateral cooperation, and where this money can really come from,\u201d he told Climate Home.<\/p>\n

The COP30 and COP29 presidencies are currently working on a roadmap that will outline ways to deliver $1.3 trillion annually in climate finance by 2035, with input requested from finance ministers.<\/p>\n

\n

UN expects climate finance roadmap to offer \u201cclear next steps\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The COP30 president said this report \u2013 due to be published before the Bel\u00e9m talks \u2013 would be \u201cindependent\u201d, without \u201clegal value\u201d, and would serve as a basis for further discussions among governments. He emphasised that national needs for finance will vary \u2013 and some countries will require more public funding than others depending on how they are viewed by private investors.<\/p>\n

Still, he warned against the \u201chuge simplification\u201d that even the core $300-billion climate finance goal could be met entirely from public funding, \u201cespecially in the context where a wealthy country has withdrawn and other rich countries are investing in defence\u201d.<\/p>\n

The United States under fossil fuel-enthusiast Donald Trump has given notice it will withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement to tackle climate change and has cut off most development aid and climate funding for poorer countries.<\/p>\n

While the US technically remains part of the Paris pact until January 2026, and has not quit the underlying UN climate convention, Corr\u00eaa do Lago said his team had yet to receive any indication of whether the US government will attend COP30.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When it comes to the most important thing to curb climate change \u2013 moving away from planet-heating fossil…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3843],"tags":[728,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-255319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114832838759107967","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}