Some commentators have called Cop30 a failure. An attempt to insert plans for a route to the phaseout of fossil fuels into the legal text was stymied, consideration of how to improve countries\u2019 emissions-cutting plans was put off till next year, and although developing countries got the tripling of finance for adaptation that they were seeking, it will not be delivered in full until 2035 \u2013 and will come out of already promised funds.<\/p>\n
Look beyond the headlines, however, and the Cop achieved a great deal more. Take the outcome on fossil fuels \u2013 it seems absurd, but until 2023 three decades of annual climate summits had failed to address fossil fuels directly.<\/p>\n
More on the positives to come out of this year\u2019s climate conference, after this week\u2019s most important reads.<\/p>\n
Essential readsIn focusLengthy discussions in windowless rooms \u2026 delegates at a closing plenary session at Cop30 in Bel\u00e9m. Photograph: Fraga Alves\/EPA<\/p>\n
Bel\u00e9m, a city of 2.5 million people, sits about 100 miles (161km) below the equator, near the mouth of the Amazon river and in the midst of rainforest, which creates its own weather. Most afternoons, torrential downpours soak the city, and frequently throughout the fortnight-long climate talks that ended on Saturday, the thunder roared outside the conference centre, shaking the ground beneath, while lightning flashed on those fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of the outside world.<\/p>\n
All this was lost on the thousands of negotiators from 194 countries who filled the windowless rooms. Occasionally, they had to pause over the microphone, as the deafening drumming of rain on the plastic roof drowned out their words. Mostly, however, their attention was all within.<\/p>\n
It is true that a discussion of a path to the end of the fossil fuel era did not make it into the final legal text. However, Cop30 president Andr\u00e9 Corr\u00eaa do Lago noted that Brazil \u2013 whose president Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva spoke several times in favour of a phaseout \u2013 did have a \u201cplan B\u201d, which is now in full swing. That is a presidential initiative to consult governments, energy experts, civil society and scientists, and report back at Cop31 on how a plan for the \u201ctransition away from fossil fuels\u201d may work.<\/p>\n
It is possible, at Cops, to get too hung up on what is legally binding and what is not. Before the Paris agreement was signed in 2015, many people were angry that although the main part of the treaty \u2013 limiting temperatures to 1.5C above preindustrial levels \u2013 was legally binding, the means of doing so \u2013 national plans on emissions, called nationally determined contributions or NDCs \u2013 were in a separate, nonbinding annexe.<\/p>\n
Over the course of the 19 Cops I have now reported from, I calculate that I have sat through days, possibly even weeks, of earnest back -and-forth discussions on what is legally binding. My takeaway from that is: get over it. The finer points of legal shading turn out to matter a lot less than countries\u2019 political priorities.<\/p>\n
The fact that NDCs are not legally binding turned out not to be a problem. The real issue is that they are so far inadequate to keep to the 1.5C limit and must be strengthened.<\/p>\n
Many countries are wary of a \u201ctop-down\u201d approach, by which global commitments are imposed on them, and prefer the \u201cbottom-up\u201d model that NDCs represent, which they feel allows them to retain some sovereignty over their decisions. (Many developing countries endured decades of being told what to do by organisations such as the International Monetary Fund, which frequently imposed on them unpalatable policies such as privatising national assets or cutting public services in return for bailouts. It left a bitter taste.)<\/p>\n
The transition away from fossil fuels should be seen in this light. A nonbinding process that allows countries to decide their own pathways, policies and timetables toward the eventual phaseout of oil, gas and coal has far more chance of succeeding than anything that is seen as an outside imposition.<\/p>\n
skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n The planet’s most important stories. Get all the week’s environment news – the good, the bad and the essential<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n (There is also, within the baggy UN framework convention on climate change, ample opportunity for any voluntary roadmap to be brought within the legally binding fold in future. A future Cop, in Turkey next year, Ethiopia in 2027, and perhaps India in 2028, could opt to \u201crecognise\u201d, \u201cwelcome\u201d, \u201cacknowledge\u201d or even \u2013 the strongest formulation \u2013 \u201cadopt\u201d the roadmap idea, giving it legal standing to please the purists.)<\/p>\n Detractors dismiss nonbinding initiatives as \u201ccoalitions of the willing\u201d but, ultimately, climate progress comes from such coalitions \u2013 nobody can force countries to follow the Paris agreement, or other commitments, if their government decides not to. Just look at the US.<\/p>\n What matters in the climate crisis is not the legal status of words agreed over night-long sessions in windowless conference rooms. What will save us is real-world action. If enough countries display their intent to move away from fossil fuels, money will follow. Today, global investment in renewables is twice that of fossil fuels; a quarter of all new vehicles sold worldwide are electric; and half of the power-generating capacity of China and India is low-carbon.<\/p>\n Look outside, hear the thunder, feel the rain: in the real world, change is happening.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/p>\n