COP30 climate summit runs overtime, president urges agreement

The outcome of Brazil's COP30 climate summit remained uncertain as countries struggled to reach consensus over the draft deal.

Scheduled to end on Friday, the two-week conference in the Amazon city of Belem ran overtime, with negotiations continuing late into the night.

Brazil framed the summit as a make-or-break moment for global climate cooperation, urging nations to bridge divides on issues including the future of fossil fuels and to reaffirm that collective global action remains essential.

"This cannot be an agenda that divides us," COP30 President Andre Correa do Lago told delegates in a public plenary session before releasing them for further negotiations. "We must reach an agreement between us."

Disputes over the draft included the European Union refusing to accept a text it said would fail to advance global efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change.

Some emerging economies pushed back against the EU's stance, demanding the bloc commit more finance to help poorer nations cope with climate impacts.

"We can't just work with one pathway. If there is a pathway for fossil fuel, there has to be a pathway for climate finance as well," said a negotiator for a developing country, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the closed-door negotiations.

The push for a phaseout of oil, coal and gas – the main drivers of global warming – reflects mounting frustration over what many see as insufficient follow-through on the COP28 agreement in Dubai in 2023 to transition away from fossil fuels.

Divisions also remain over trade measures and the scale of support needed for vulnerable nations to adapt to increasingly severe climate impacts such as floods and droughts, and to pursue low-carbon development.

The rejected draft called for a "manyfold increase" in financial support for developing countries and urged "efforts to triple adaptation finance" by 2030 compared with 2025 levels.

(With input from agencies)