The 2025 U.N. climate conference COP30, held in Belém on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, was promoted as a landmark moment for global climate policy. The venue in one of the planet’s most important carbon sinks, home to vast biodiversity and many Indigenous communities, was meant to highlight the urgency of protecting forests while cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva championed the summit as a chance to connect climate diplomacy with conditions in the Amazon and give frontline communities greater visibility.
From the outset, expectations were high. Lula’s early speeches helped rally more than 80 countries behind calls for a global plan to reduce oil, gas and coal, the main drivers of warming, and to turn the broad commitment made at COP28 in Dubai into concrete steps compatible with the 1.5 degrees Celsius target in the Paris Agreement.
Final Deal Sidesteps Fossil Fuel Phaseout
The decision adopted on 22 November 2025 fell far short of those ambitions. The final text does not refer to fossil fuels and offers no timetable to wind down oil, gas or coal. Instead, it concentrates on expanding financial assistance for developing countries to adapt to climate change and cope with loss and damage, leaving the pace of the energy transition to future talks.
Delegations from the European Union, several Latin American governments and climate-vulnerable Pacific island nations reacted sharply, arguing that a document which does not name fossil fuels cannot credibly respond to the science. Representatives from countries such as Colombia, Panama and Tuvalu warned that the process is drifting away from the temperature limits set a decade ago and that communities already hit by rising seas and extreme weather will bear the cost. Many diplomats and activists blamed major oil-exporting states, including producers in the Middle East and Russia, for blocking stronger language.
The agreement did contain financial elements that some viewed as progress. Countries endorsed a higher collective goal for adaptation finance, aligning with a pledge made in Belém to work toward 120 billion dollars a year for resilience projects in poorer nations by the early 2030s, although the deadline for reaching that target was delayed and monitoring provisions were softened.
Lula’s Balancing Act And A Disrupted Summit
President Lula entered the summit with a reputation as a leader able to work with both industrialized nations and the Global South. Brazil generates most of its electricity from renewable sources such as hydropower, yet it is also expanding offshore oil production. That dual position allowed Lula to present himself as both a defender of the Amazon and a leader of an energy-exporting economy, raising hopes he might broker stronger commitments on a managed transition away from fossil fuels.
As negotiations wore on, his tone became more cautious. In late-summit remarks, Lula continued to describe climate change as urgent but stressed that each country should move toward renewables at its own speed, according to national capacity, and said Brazil did not intend to impose targets on others. The message signalled limits to how far the host government was prepared to push for binding language on fossil fuel phaseout.
Events on the ground further complicated the talks. A fire at the conference venue prompted evacuations in the closing days and left 13 people needing treatment for smoke inhalation, briefly halting proceedings at a critical stage of drafting.
Eroding Trust In The UN Climate Process
When COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago finally gaveled through the outcome document, discontent was evident. Delegates from several dozen countries placed formal objections on the record, with some governments, including Colombia, explicitly distancing themselves from the final text. Civil society groups and many scientific voices argued that the decision does not provide a pathway to cut global emissions quickly enough to avert more severe impacts, even as extreme heat, floods and storms intensify worldwide.
The setback in Belém has sharpened questions about whether the annual U.N. climate conference can still drive steep reductions in fossil fuel use this decade. For many observers, a summit hosted in the Amazon that ended without any reference to fossil fuels symbolized the gap between political rhetoric and implementation. Attention is now turning to COP31, scheduled for 2026 in Turkey, where negotiators expect battles over fossil fuel language, climate finance and the pace of the energy transition to resume against a backdrop of record-breaking temperatures in 2023 and 2024.
