Around 80 countries are asking the UN Cop 30 climate summit's Brazilian presidency to put a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels on the negotiating table, after an initial draft text released today included only "weak" mentions.
The current reference to the roadmap in the text is "weak" and only presented as an option in the main text released today, climate envoy for the Marshall Islands Tina Stege said, speaking for negotiating bloc the alliance of small island states (Aosis). Developing and developed nations as well as island states are supporting the call.
The text follows consultations on four topics sitting outside the official conference agenda and sets out options — with various degrees of strength — on the phase-out of fossil fuels and climate finance, including options for no text at all.
UK climate envoy Rachel Kyte said that the objective of a meeting today is to make clear to the Brazilian presidency that this coalition of countries is not going to go home without clarity about a roadmap on implementing the outcome from Cop 28 in 2023. Parties at Cop 28 agreed to a call "to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science".
German environment minister Carsten Schneider called on other countries to join the coalition. "We want a [Cop 30] outcome that addresses the transition away from fossil fuels in a just and inclusive way," he said, adding that so do "most of [his] European friends", without naming specific countries.
"We are saying with one voice that this is an issue that cannot be ignored, cannot be swept under the carpet, and this is where the momentum is", the UK's energy minister Ed Miliband said. He called for the roadmap to be at "the heart of Cop 30".
Supporting the call should "also emphasise the importance of providing access to energy for those who don't have it", Kenya's special envoy for climate change Ali Mohamed said.
The issue is also economical, Sierra Leone's environment minister Jiwoh Abdulai said. "The cost of adaptation is increasing much faster than we can afford. Insurance markets are going to collapse, even in the developed countries, because insurance companies are not going to want to underwrite a lot of these risks", he said.
It is in all countries' interest, including those with economies dependent on fossil fuels, to strengthen co-operation to transition away from fossil fuels, Sweden's lead negotiator Matthias Frumerie said.
Individual countries' roadmaps should include the phase out of fossil fuel subsidies, Colombia's environment minister Irene Velez-Torres. Allocating some of these subsidies to the roadmap against deforestation would be a major step, she added.
Colombia was an early champion of a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels. Another key issue is figuring out how to replace extractive economies in producing countries and financing, she said. Colombia is calling for the language in the text to be more definite.
"What we have so far is that draft that has room for improvement, but it can end up like an onion: you peel back the layers and in the end you find nothing," Velez-Torres said. One negotiator suggested that the text released by the presidency was weighted and that calls for a roadmap were ignored.
