Cop30 live: Ethiopia to host Cop32 – but fight to host Cop31 continues | Environment
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Climate campaigners last night faced off against agriculture industry lobbyists at a protest at the AgriZone, an area outside the Nestlé and Bayer-sponsored Cop30 summit venue..
The campaigners, part of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice, were protesting Brazil’s decision to allow industrial agriculture companies to set up shop at the summit.
They pointed to evidence showing that industrial agriculture is the main cause of deforestation in the Amazon and produces a third of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The number of lobbyists at police summits has increased in recent years. Last week the Guardian reported that more than 5,000 fossil fuel lobbyists had joined climate talks since COP26 in Glasgow.
“Climate zones must stop being complicit in all forms of extractivism that are causing the crisis,” said Erika Xananine Calvillo Ramirez of the Stop Funding Factory Farming Coalition. He added:
The agricultural sector is responsible for the water crisis in the Ngiwa Valley in Tehuacan, Mexico, and they need to stop greening their image at COP30.
Andrea Echeverri of the Global Forest Coalition said:
AgriZone is nothing more than a giant greenwashing area. While social organizations and other mortals often jockey to make their voices heard in areas in the Blue Zone and Green Zone, agribusinesses have a huge field reserved for dazzling negotiators and dedicated to convincing them that they are saviors of the planet, not massive polluters.
The globalized agri-food system focused on animal husbandry fails to fulfill its purpose of feeding the world because it is designed to produce money, not food.
In AgriZone, big companies, think tanks and so-called independent research centers hide their own models with their “climate-smart” models, smart seeds, digitalisations and measurements, while producing a food and agricultural crisis, a countryside without peasants, without memory and without diversity.
Ethiopia will host Cop32 in 2027
According to Reuters, Cop32 will be held in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
The news agency said COP30 president André Corrêa do Lago said countries had agreed in principle to hold the 2027 edition of the UN climate summit in the east African country.
The election still needs to be officially recognized in a process expected to take place on Tuesday, but Reuters reported that sources said it would pass without any disruption.
If confirmed, it means the Cop32 server will be decided before the Cop31 server is confirmed. As both Australia and Turkey compete to host the 2026 summit, Australia is proposing a partnership with the Pacific Islands, which are considered among the world’s most vulnerable places to climate change.
COP summits revolve around regions of the world. Ethiopia launched its bid in September and was unanimously selected by the African Countries Bureau despite a rival bid from Nigeria.
hello, this Damien Gayle I’m at the beginning of the second day of the Guardian’s Cop30 live blog broadcast.
If you have suggestions for topics we can cover from this year’s climate talks in Belém, Brazil, send me an email at damien.gayle@theguardian.com.
Negotiations started at COP30 after the agenda was adopted
Jonathan Watts
Yesterday, on the opening day, the Cop30 conference center in Belém was destroyed by thunder, lightning and torrential rain, but Climate meeting has so far avoided the political storms that rocked the early stages of annual talks, Jonathan Watts writes in the Guardian global environmental writer.
How long the calm will last will become clearer in the next two days, as the Brazilian presidency holds consultations with key countries on the issues that will be discussed over the next two weeks.
This is a diplomatic sleight of hand and has so far enabled the host country to avoid the usual discussions on the official agenda, which in past conferences have often lasted several days and disrupted all other business. However, yesterday it was on the agenda again.
Difficult discussions on controversial items will now be conducted in small meetings with the presidency, while other elements in the massive negotiation program can move forward.
It’s an encouraging start for Polis chief André Corrêa do Lago, one of the world’s most respected climate diplomats who, as he reminded delegates, has been working on environmental governance since the Earth summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
As the global political landscape continues to create extra obstacles to progress, tougher battles lie ahead. While many participants said they were pleased that the United States under Donald Trump is staying away rather than becoming a disruptive presence, there is no doubt that any deal would be weakened by the absence of the world’s largest historical emitter and richest nation.
An alternative US delegation will hold a press conference on Tuesday to show that many in the country still favor ambitious action. California governor Gavin Newsom and New Mexico governor Michelle Lujan Grisham will be among a group of more than 100 political and business leaders representing subnational coalitions such as America Is All In, Climate Mayors and the U.S. Climate Alliance.
Tuesday’s thematic day covers a variety of topics, from adaptation and bioeconomy to cities and infrastructure. The hosts underline that this should be about concrete policies and practices, not just promises and exchanges of ideas. “Every day, it aims to provide a platform where implementation, equity and urgency meet, connecting negotiations with real-world impacts. COP30 is the place where lived experience must be translated into urgent climate action,” said Corrêa do Lago.
But countries are still determining their positions on bigger issues like emissions and finance. A key debate will be whether delegates can launch a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels and whether this will cover all countries.
At COP28 in Dubai, the world agreed to move away from fossil fuels, but the issue was barely mentioned at last year’s Cop29 in Baku. Saudi Arabia tried to remove the issue from the COP30 agenda during this year’s preparatory meetings. But Brazilian President Lula da Silva gave strong signals to the negotiating team that this important issue, which must be at the center of effective climate action, should proceed in Belém. “We need a road map for humanity to overcome its dependence on fossil fuels,” the veteran centre-left politician said at yesterday’s opening session.
For this idea to take hold, it would have to be mandatory for all nations, but most major oil-producing countries will resist it. Brazil, one of the world’s top 10 oil and gas producers, is the ideal country to take this forward. The question is how far he is willing to go. A road map for the whole world would point to real progress. A voluntary regulation from which some countries could opt out would be little more than greenwashing
The host hopes civil society will help boost ambition. Unlike the last three Cops, which were held in countries with varying degrees of authoritarian governments, Brazilian authorities are actively encouraging street demonstrations. Corrêa do Lago emphasized that these were necessary to increase ambition in the conference centre. Indigenous groups and NGOs became more visible at COP30, helping to offset the armies of lobbyists who have dominated recent summits. A “people’s summit” will be held on Thursday and Friday, a global youth rally will take place on Friday, and the biggest demonstration is planned for Saturday. Many leading NGO representatives are lining up behind the COP30 call to begin the process of building an exit ramp from the fossil fuel age.
“It is a shame that after 30 years of climate conferences, we still do not have an agreed plan to combat fossil fuel use, which is the main driver of the climate crisis. Every day without such an agreement is a day lost in the fight against the climate crisis, and a large part of the world’s population is exposed to enormous risks. We have all the data and we know the way forward – but we still lack the political accountability of many decision-makers,” said Marcio Astrini, secretary general of the Brazilian Climate Observatory.
Saudi Arabia and like-minded countries will try to block or dilute these moves by focusing more on finance, which could easily disrupt the conference. This agenda also needs to be resolved to the satisfaction of many countries in the global south that are already suffering from severe climate impacts.
Brazil’s talented climate diplomats have a lot of work to do in the crowds ahead if they are to find a way through these potential storms.
