Talks at Cop30 only began on Monday afternoon but already the climate summit has its first deadline and it’s a tight one.
On Wednesday, the heads of all 150 national delegations will be summoned together to take stock of what they have achieved in the previous 48 hours.
That may sound like a demand from the summit organisers to show they won’t tolerate any performative time-wasting, but it has actually come from groups of poorer nations.
Tired of foot-dragging by richer countries on key issues such as climate finance and emissions cuts, they want proof that there is genuine engagement by all.
RM Block
The Cop presidency, held by Brazil, is happy to facilitate – it supports their unofficial slogan for the talks, that this must be the action or implementation Cop where they walk the walk on all the pledges, agreements and initiatives of previous Cops.
So far, the message seems to be getting through and things are moving at pace, with the agenda for the talks agreed in an unexpectedly quick time – albeit because some proposed supplementary items were excluded in return for the stocktake.
At the opening ceremony for the summit in the Amazonian city of Belém, the emphasis was on maintaining this co-operative approach to the talks.
[ The Irish Times view on the Cop30 summit: a call to action which must be heededOpens in new window ]
Simon Stiell, head of UN Climate, the permanent body that oversees the summit as it moves from country to country each year, took inspiration from the setting for his speech.
“We find ourselves here in Belém, at the mouth of the Amazon and we can learn a lot from this mighty river,” he said.
“The Amazon isn’t a single entity, rather a vast river system supported and powered by over a thousand tributaries.
“To accelerate implementation, the Cop process must be supported in the same way – powered by the many streams of international co-operation.”
Reminding the delegates of the task ahead, he told them: “Let me be clear: in this arena of Cop30, your job here is not to fight one another – your job is to fight this climate crisis, together.”
That fight was having some success, the summit heard later.
Based on the plans individual countries have submitted for cutting their own national greenhouse gas emissions, total global emissions could fall by 12 per cent by 2030.
However, that is a long way off the 43 per cent drop scientists have said is needed to keep the planet from heating to more dangerous levels.
“I am not sugar-coating it. We have so much more work to do,” Stiell said.
Respecting the science was another theme of the opening day.
Veteran diplomat, André Correa do Lago, appointed by the summit’s Brazilian hosts to be the Cop30 president – effectively the chair of the talks – said this must be “a Cop that will hear and believe the science”.
Brazilian president Lula da Silva criticised the rise in fake news that peddled “anti-science, anti-universities” views and said this must be a Cop to “defeat the denialists”.
Their remarks were a subtle but unmistakable dig at US president Donald Trump who has cut funding to science agencies and dismissed climate change as a “con”.
The US has withdrawn its funding from the UN climate agency itself, leaving a 20 per cent hole in the budget to be filled by philanthropy.
Stiell warned countries that could not continue and signalled they would have to contribute more to keep the agency afloat.
The talks, along with thousands of side events hosted by countries, science agencies, activist organisations and business groupings, are scheduled to conclude on November 21st.
