Bel©m: Organizers of the COP30 climate conference in Bel©m, Brazil, were forced to extend negotiations to adopt the final declaration after two weeks of fruitless talks, amid a lack of any signs of agreement among the 200 participating countries, whose positions remain far apart regarding fossil fuels.

According to National Iraqi News Agency, the Brazilian presidency of the conference presented a draft agreement on the final day that omitted the phrase “fossil fuels” and failed to address the “roadmap” demanded by at least 80 European, Latin American, and island nations. This omission hindered consensus on the final declaration. EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra stated that the bloc could not rule out the possibility of the climate conference ending without an agreement, as the Brazilian presidency’s draft text was not ambitious enough regarding greenhouse gas emissions reductions.

For her part, French Minister for Ecological Transition Monique Barbeau described the final text as “disappointing for failing to mention fossil fuels, which are responsible for more than 80% of global warming,” adding that this omission was “incomprehensible given the climate emergency.”

Non-governmental organizations also immediately rejected the draft resolution. Greenpeace commented that it was “a blank slate, offering little to address the lack of ambition to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius or to encourage countries to accelerate action.” The World Wildlife Fund described the text as “very disappointing.”

The majority of the world’s nations are calling for a “roadmap” to accelerate the phase-out of oil, coal, and gas, which are largely responsible for climate change, in order to move forward with the commitment to phase out fossil fuels as agreed upon at the 28th Conference of the Parties two years ago.