Hope percolates despite fossil foolishness
Oil bullies force COP30 to walk back plans for a roadmap that would phase out fossil fuel. But justice is back on the agenda.
Christine Mungai
Two years ago, negotiators at COP28 in Dubai agreed to “transition away from fossil fuels”. Now, that language has been dropped from the final proposal emerging from the COP30 summit in Belém, Brazil, underscoring deep divisions over the future of global energy.
The draft, released on Friday by the Brazilian presidency, removes proposals for a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels.
Negotiators from dozens of countries had pushed to retain these proposals. But resistance from Saudi Arabia and other major oil-producing countries prevailed.
Still, African negotiators leave the summit emphasising progress in other areas. During COP30, Lesotho, Nigeria, South Africa, and Togo joined a flagship initiative to strengthen national climatefinance planning. This would replace today’s project-by-project funding with co-ordinated, long-term investment strategies, packaged as grants, not loans.
Lavender Namdiero of African Futures Lab stressed this was not about charity – it was about justice. “Negotiators count carbon, while communities are counting loss, grief, and unpaid care,” Namdiero told The Continent. “These are not abstractions: they are reparations issues.”
This framing carried into Africa’s broader demands at the summit: rapid, predictable adaptation finance delivered as grants; protection of forests; resilient food systems; and faster disbursements from the Loss and Damage Fund to communities already suffering climate-driven devastation.
Namdiero added: “Even when the word ‘reparations’ isn’t spoken, its meaning is present everywhere – in demands for dignity, protection, recognition, and repair.”
COP31 will be held in Türkiye and COP32 in Ethiopia.