The world edged a small step closer to the end of the fossil fuel era on Saturday, but not by nearly enough to stave off the ravages of climate breakdown.<\/p>\n
Countries meeting in Brazil<\/a> for two weeks could manage only a voluntary agreement to begin discussions on a roadmap to an eventual phase-out of fossil fuels. They achieved this incremental progress only in the teeth of implacable opposition from oil-producing countries.<\/p>\n Ireland is supporting the European Union<\/a>\u2019s decision to accept the Cop30<\/a> Presidency text, although Minister for Climate Darragh O\u2019Brien has acknowledged it lacks ambition.<\/p>\n In a statement released on Saturday, Mr O\u2019Brien<\/a> said Irish support for the text is underpinned by \u201cprofound concerns\u201d and that it was \u201cnot a choice made lightly\u201d.<\/p>\n He said it \u201cfalls short of meaningful ambition on the most critical issue of our time \u2013 reducing emissions to mitigate the worst effects of climate change<\/a>\u201c.<\/p>\n Specifically, Mr O\u2019Brien\u2019s statement references the text\u2019s failure to include a \u201ccredible roadmap for the phase-out of fossil fuels\u201d, which more than 80 countries, including Ireland, had called for earlier this week.<\/p>\n A lengthy standoff on the agreement around the text had delayed the close of the climate summit. Mr O\u2019Brien said it was a \u201cdifficult moment for multilateralism\u201d and a \u201creality check for the EU\u2019s place in this new world\u201d. He described the text as neither a step forward nor a step back.<\/p>\n The talks were hauled back from the brink of collapse in an all-night session into Saturday morning. The bitter disagreement that almost ended hopes of a deal played out between a coalition of more than 80 developed and developing countries, and a group led by Saudi Arabia<\/a> and its allies, and Russia<\/a>.<\/p>\n There was disappointment from campaigners, but relief that the talks had produced at least some progress. Developing countries achieved part of their goal at the fortnight of global talks, which was a tripling of the financial support available from rich countries to help them adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis. They will receive $120 billion (\u20ac104.2bn) a year for adaptation, from the $300 billion developed countries pledged to them last year, but not until 2035, instead of the 2030 deadline they were demanding. Many had also hoped the increase would be on top of the $300 billion.<\/p>\n A roadmap to the halting of deforestation was dropped from the final deal, a bitter disappointment for nature advocates at this \u201crainforest Cop\u201d held in Belem, near the mouth of the Amazon river.<\/p>\n The agreement among 194 countries \u2013 excluding the US, which did not send a delegation \u2013 was reached in the early morning after 12 hours of non-stop extra-time talks among ministers in deserted conference halls, and finalised at a closing meeting after negotiations were hauled back from the brink of collapse on Friday evening.<\/p>\n Jennifer Morgan, the Cop veteran and former German climate envoy, said: \u201cWhile far from what\u2019s needed, the outcome in Belem is meaningful progress. The Paris Agreement is working, the transition away from fossil fuels agreed in Dubai (at the Cop28 talks in 2023) is accelerating. Despite the efforts of major oil-producing states to slow down the green transition, multilateralism continues to support the interests of the whole world in tackling the climate crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n Mohamed Adow, director of the Power Shift Africa think tank, said: \u201cWith an increasingly fractured geopolitical backdrop, Cop30 gave us some baby steps in the right direction, but considering the scale of the climate crisis, it has failed to rise to the occasion. Despite calling themselves climate leaders, developed countries have betrayed vulnerable nations by failing to deliver science-aligned national emission reduction plans.\u201d<\/p>\n Poor countries must be supported to cope with a crisis not of their making, said Ali Mohamed, special climate envoy for Kenya. \u201cThe 30th Cop has reaffirmed both the urgency of climate action and the disproportionate risks faced by the most vulnerable,\u201c he said.<\/p>\n \u201dKenya and Africa stand ready to lead in the transition to clean energy, but resilience and adaptation cannot remain afterthoughts for a continent responsible for less than 4 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Developed countries must finally honour their finance commitments.\u201d<\/p>\n Efforts to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement, were also addressed in the final text, but less robustly than vulnerable countries had hoped. Ahead of the conference, countries were supposed to present new national plans on cutting emissions, but they fell drastically short of the commitments needed to maintain the 1.5C limit, which has already been breached but which analysts say could be returned to.<\/p>\n Instead of censuring this failure, the conference agreed to set up an \u201caccelerator\u201d programme to address the shortfall in the nationally determined contributions (NDCs), which will report back at next year\u2019s Cop, to be held in Turkey but presided over by Australia. The text exhorted countries to move toward \u201cfull implementation of NDCs while striving to do better\u201d.<\/p>\n The final deal also recognised the \u201cjust transition\u201d that social justice campaigners have been calling for, which means helping workers affected by the move away from fossil fuels and towards clean energy. But key provisions on the exploitation of \u201ccritical minerals\u201d \u2013 which has been accompanied by soaring human rights abuses in some countries \u2013 were blocked by China and Russia.<\/p>\n Insiders told the Guardian the talks came close to foundering on Friday, after a hectic few weeks in Brazil that began with a summit of world leaders, held by Brazil\u2019s president Lula da Silva and attended by about 50 heads or deputy heads of state.<\/p>\n High-level ministers from Jamaica, Cuba and Mauritius all spoke there of the devastating impact of Hurricane Melissa. \u201cWe did not create this crisis, but we refuse to stand as victims,\u201d said Matthew Samuda, Jamaica\u2019s economic growth minister.\u201d<\/p>\n UN secretary-general Ant\u00f3nio Guterres warned of temperature rises that would \u201cpush ecosystems past irreversible tipping points, expose billions to unliveable conditions, and amplify threats to peace and security\u201d.<\/p>\n