• Deal drops ‘roadmap’ to exit fossil fuels; French minister blames Saudi Arabia, Russia and India for the move
• Talks proceed despite US absence
• Rich nations agree to triple adaptation finance for poor countries

BELEM: Nations clinched a deal at the UN’s COP30 climate summit in the Amazon on Saturday without a roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels as demanded by the European Union, opting instead for a compromise to boost finance for poor nations.

The approval of nearly 200 countries came after two weeks of fraught negotiations in the Brazilian city of Belem, marked by the notable absence of the United States as President Donald Trump shunned the event.

Applause rang out in the plenary session after COP30 President and Brazilian diplomat Andre Correa do Lago slammed a gavel signalling the deal’s approval, acknowledging the difficulties.

“We know some of you had greater ambitions for some of the issues at hand,” Correa do Lago said.

The EU and other nations had pushed for a deal that would call for a “roadmap” to phase out fossil fuels, but those words do not appear in the text.

Instead, the agreement calls on countries to “voluntarily” accelerate their climate action and recalls the consensus reached at COP28 in Dubai. That 2023 deal called for the world to transition away from fossil fuels.

The impasse between the European Union and the Arab Group of nations over fossil fuels pushed the talks past a Friday deadline, triggering all-night negotiations before a compromise could be reached.

French Ecological Transition Minister Monique Barbut accused oil-rich Saudi Arabia and Russia, along with coal producer India and “many” other emerging countries, of refusing language on a fossil-fuel phaseout.

Ultimately, the EU, which had warned the summit could end without a deal if fossil fuels were not addressed, accepted the watered-down language.

“We’re not going to hide the fact that we would have preferred to have more, to have more ambition on everything,” EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told reporters.

Others offered harsher critiques. More than 30 countries, including European nations, emerging economies and small island states.

“A climate decision that cannot even say fossil fuels is not neutrality, it is complicity. And what is happening here transcends incompetence,” said Panama’s climate negotiator Juan Carlos Monterrey.

Because of the lack of consensus, Correa do Lago said on Saturday morning that the presidency was issuing a side text on fossil fuels — as well as on protecting forests — keeping it out of the main accord.

He urged countries to continue discussions on the matter under the Brazilian presidency until the next COP.

Despite the friction on emissions, the deal included financial components developing nations had long demanded. The agreement calls for rich nations to “at least triple” adaptation finance by 2035 to help developing countries cope with the impacts of climate change, such as floods and droughts.

The summit’s conclusion prevented what would have been a political failure for Brazilian President, who had staked political capital on the success of what he called the “COP of truth”. It also served as a test of international cooperation following Trump’s decision to skip the summit.

“We also have to weigh the backdrop of geopolitics, and in the end there is no other process we have,” German State Secretary for the Environment Jochen Flasbarth said.

While the EU described itself as “isolated” during talks, other major powers claimed victory, including the head of China’s delegation, Li Gao, who said the summit would go down as a success.

Additionally, Saturday’s agreement launches a process for climate bodies to review how to align international trade with climate action.

The EU had previously rejected language on trade in the text, as demanded by China and other emerging countries, but the final deal calls for “dialogue” on trade issues.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2025