Adds comment from Cop 30 president
Countries at the UN Cop 30 climate summit were able to agree on an agenda a day prior to the summit's beginning, but key issues — unilateral trade measures, climate finance and countries' climate plans and emissions reporting — were left off, the Cop 30 presidency said today.
The absent topics will be resolved through presidency consultations, Cop 30 officials said. A two-hour meeting was scheduled today to discuss the items.
But addressing the topics left off the agenda will be difficult, Cop 30 president Andre Correa do Lago told Argus on the sidelines of the summit today. "They are all going to be hard", Correa do Lago said.
There were eight agenda item proposals, and four of them did not make the cut, according to Cop 30's chief strategy and alignment officer Tulio Andrade. But there was an understanding that all will be considered in presidency consultations that "will start immediately", he added. Delegates will also discuss the issues in a plenary on 12 November, he added.
Correa do Lago commended all delegations for agreeing to the agenda quickly. "This is good, not only to allow us to start working today already very intensively, but it will also allow us to explain to the world why these additional issues that have been raised really matter", he told reporters.
Non-profit World Resources Institute (WRI) had previously flagged the four items as "notable". The climate finance topic is encompassed in a request from a group of developing countries to discuss the Paris climate agreement's Article 9.1. This section of the accord states that "developed country parties shall provide financial resources to assist developing country parties" — a topic that dominated last year's Cop 29, with many developing nations disappointed at the outcome.
Unilateral trade measures encompass the EU's carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) — a topic that proved contentious at previous climate talks, with pushback from some developing countries. EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra is also responsible for overseeing the bloc's taxation measures.
WRI noted that the alliance of small island states (Aosis) — some of the most vulnerable to climate change — requested that countries discussed how to respond to the latest round of countries' climate plans, and the gap between these and the Paris agreement's temperature goals.
"There are some countries that are concerned that [including an item on climate plans lacking ambition] may create a kind of deviation from the subjects that they believe should be dealt with first", Correa do Lago told reporters today. The presidency will address those countries individually, he added.
Cop 30 started today in Belem, northern Brazil.
