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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/19/divide-over-fossil-fuels-phaseout-can-be-bridged-cop30-president-says>
"Oil-producing countries need to acknowledge the rise of clean energy, and rich
countries will have to provide more assurances on finance if the chasm between
negotiating nations at Cop30 is to be bridged, the president of the summit has
said.
André Corrêa do Lago, the veteran Brazilian climate diplomat in charge of the
talks, said: “Developing countries are looking at developed countries as
countries that could be much more generous in supporting them to be more
sustainable. They could offer more finance, and technology.”
This does not necessarily involve an increase in the headline amount of money
to be provided directly from rich world coffers, set last year at $300bn
(£230bn) a year by 2035. It could also come from better use of existing
finance, Corrêa do Lago added.
“You don’t need more money. You don’t need public money from developed
countries. You need to leverage more dollars from each dollar that you have,”
he said in an exclusive interview with the
Guardian as the talks entered
their crucial stage.
“They can offer not only more resources in banks, in multinational development
banks; put more public money in funds like the green climate fund or the global
environment facility, but there are an increasing number of alternatives like
debt-for-nature swaps and other [instruments].”
The divide over the “transition away from fossil fuels” has emerged as the
biggest faultline at the Cop30 talks, now entering their final days in Brazil.
On Tuesday, more than 80 countries demanded a roadmap to the transition as a
key outcome of the summit, in what some campaigners described as a “turning
point”.
But they are likely to face stiff opposition from petrostates such as Saudi
Arabia and others who are dependent on fossil fuels. Decisions at “conference
of the party” meetings require consensus, so even a handful of states could
scupper the roadmap proposal.
“Not only is [the divide] binary, but it is two extremes: one very favourable
[to a phaseout] the other very unfavourable. There aren’t many countries that
are indifferent,” said Corrêa do Lago.
But countries could still come together, he added. “Like most of these
negotiations, it is less binary than it looks,” he said, if countries could
recognise their own internal contradictions, and face up to the global need for
climate action.
Some oil-producing countries oppose the fossil fuel phaseout, but so do some
consumer countries. “Some countries, because oil is a very important source of
revenue, and other countries because they evaluate that they still need to use
coal for more years, have shown very clearly that this proposal is not
acceptable to them,” Corrêa do Lago said.
Oil-producing countries also had hard truths to face up to. “They have to
decide by themselves how they interpret the transition [away from fossil
fuels],” he said. “They are already doing it. There is one statistic that shows
that the use of oil will be reduced inevitably in the years ahead. [Electric
vehicles are] reducing significantly the demand for oil, for gasoline and
diesel.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
