Brazil’s COP30 slow shuffle climate negotiation turns into a sprint

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By Kate Abnett, Lisandra Paraguassu and Sudarshan Varadhan

BELEM, Brazil (Reuters) -Brazil is hoping to land an early agreement on some of the most contentious issues at the COP30 climate summit after unveiling a bold negotiation strategy that had delegates working into the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The two-week summit in the Amazon city of Belem has brought together governments from across the world to strengthen the complex U.N. framework that underpins global action to halt rising temperatures and cope with the damage they cause.

Host nation Brazil wants a deal agreed in two stages: one package on Wednesday, including items that were a week ago deemed too thorny to even include on the formal agenda, and another wrapping up any outstanding issues by Friday.

At the outset of COP30, it was unclear whether there would be an attempt to negotiate a final agreement for the end of the summit.

“I think it’s a daring move. It could work, although it’s also a risk because why would parties move if they know there still is time,” said one European negotiator.

GUTERRES RETURNS TO MEET LULA

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres returned to Belem on Tuesday and will meet Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Wednesday. 

Lula said the meeting was designed to “strengthen climate governance and multilateralism.”

The toughest topics include pinning down how rich countries will provide finance to poorer countries to switch to clean energy, and what must be done about a gap between promised emissions cuts and those needed to stop temperatures rising.

Some nations, including Brazil, want a roadmap to help countries implement an agreement reached at COP28 in 2023 to phase out the use of fossil fuels.

Confounding expectations set by recent COP summits – all of which have run way past their scheduled end – Brazil’s COP30 president Andre Correa do Lago said late on Monday he had the support of attendees to push hard for an early outcome.

Talks ran past midnight and were scheduled to run late again on Tuesday.

DIFFERENCES REMAIN UNBRIDGED

Two negotiators and two third-party observers, who are permitted to sit in on the talks, separately described to Reuters a broad range of disagreements that were yet to be resolved. 

Issues like the provision of finance have long pitted developed countries, many of which are juggling tight public finances and competing domestic priorities including security, against the most vulnerable nations, like small island states under existential threat from rising seas.

Some of these differences were captured in a draft text published by the COP30 presidency, which presented a wide range of options for the final wording on the key issues, giving little sign where a final deal would land. 

One observer told Reuters that delegates were struggling to advance towards deals.

“They have boxed all the lightning rod issues in one room, and every time a discussion gained momentum, someone else steered it away by bringing up something else,” they said. 

(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu, Kate Abnett and Sudarshan Varadhan, writing by William James; Editing by Katy Daigle, Aidan Lewis)