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How Belém launched the Just Transition mechanism

How Belém launched the Just Transition mechanism
How Belém launched the Just Transition mechanism

Amid stalled talks on finance, adaptation and fossil fuel transition at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil’s Amazon region, governments agreed to an ambitious Just Transition package combining the strongest rights- and inclusion-based language yet seen in the UN climate process with a new global mechanism to support countries reshaping their economies.

The COP30 decision also confirmed that Just Transition must take a whole-of-society and whole-of-economy approach – covering mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, and finance – a broad scope that observers said marked a significant step forward for the process. 

Delegates described the outcome in the city of Belém as a rare convergence of political will, technical facilitation and years of groundwork by civil society and governments.

For Indian women workers, a just transition means surviving climate impacts with dignity

The decision also places stronger emphasis on the social and economic foundations of transition than many observers had expected. The text links Just Transition explicitly to poverty eradication and decent work, and recognises the need for just energy transitions as part of implementing the Global Stocktake – including the transition away from fossil fuels.

Finance provisions were also firmer than in previous drafts, with governments agreeing that support for Just Transition should prioritise grants and non-debt-creating instruments, a framing long pushed by developing countries and civil society.

Civil society kept the issue alive

The Work Programme on Just Transition, launched in 2022, remained low-profile across several COP cycles. Unions, youth networks, feminist groups, social movements and environmental organisations continued refining proposals and pushing negotiators even when political attention was limited – while activists also took to the streets across the world calling for a Just Transition. 

As momentum built toward COP30, these groups began referring to their proposal as the Belém Action Mechanism – the “BAM” – signalling the level of institutional ambition they believed the process required. Alongside this sustained organising, unions stressed that Just Transition had to move beyond principles and into practice. 

Key governments shifted earlier than expected

As colourful activists danced and chanted “We want the BAM!” in the COP30 conference centre, a key moment arrived on day two, when the G77+China group of developing countries came out early and clearly signalled its support for establishing a Just Transition mechanism. This leadership was widely described as the turning point that made an ambitious outcome possible.

The EU followed at the end of the first week, tabling a “bridging proposal” in the form of a Just Transition Action Plan. From that point, civil society campaigns intensified across the Global North, aimed at shifting governments that had so far resisted any new institutional arrangements.

COP30: Spain’s unions say just transition means renewing communities beyond jobs

The UK – initially identified by observers as the main hold-out – faced sustained campaigning, including an NGO sign-on letter and direct engagement with ministers. The political shift became visible inside the talks when Ed Miliband signalled support for the EU plan during the High-Level Ministerial Roundtable.

That shift extended beyond the UK. Canada, previously quiet on new institutional arrangements, began describing itself as “open to options” after targeted domestic media coverage. Australian civil society leveraged the country’s COP31 bid to draw attention to the need for coordination institutions, while NGOs in Belém maintained pressure on Swiss negotiators.

The push for the mechanism reached the highest level of the UN system. After a meeting with civil society, UN Secretary-General António Guterres added his voice of support for the mechanism and urged COP30 to operationalise a Just Transition aligned with 1.5°C.  

Facilitators and ministers closed the gaps

Last year at COP29 in Baku, the Just Transition track ended without an outcome partly because no ministers were mandated to land one. Belém took a different approach: Mexico’s Alicia Bárcena and Poland’s Krzysztof Bolesta were appointed as ministerial leads and played a central role in balancing strong rights language with the institutional detail.

Technical co-facilitators Joseph Teo of Singapore and Federica Fricano of Italy were credited with producing a clear, workable draft that helped bridge divides. Delegates said its readability – unusual for UNFCCC text – helped maintain trust. UNFCCC secretariat staff supported the process with rapid revision work through the second week. 

Brazil’s presidency and the significance of place

Brazil made Just Transition one of its three priorities, ensuring the track remained visible amid wider disputes.

The signal came early: at Climate Action Network’s Annual Strategy Meeting in Rio de Janeiro in February, attended by more than 170 climate justice activists, COP30 President Ambassador André Correa do Lago and COP30 CEO Ana Toni told participants that Just Transition would be a “vital” issue for COP30. The presidency also guided parties toward addressing the issue of “institutional arrangements” during the Pre-COP.

“Water is worth more than lithium,” Indigenous Argentine community tells COP30

Belém’s context also mattered. The region is a long-standing focal point for debates over livelihoods, extractivism and environmental protection, grounding negotiations in lived realities.

A symbol of this was the People’s March on the streets of Belém, with over 50,000 people participating, and thousands more across the world. The message of the Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon was clear: a Just Transition cannot be designed about them or around them – it must be shaped with them, and how transition minerals are managed is central to this. 

An Indigenous person holds a sign reading: “Water is worth more than copper”, during a protest to call for climate justice and territorial protection during the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP30), in Belem, Brazil, November 17, 2025. (Photo: REUTERS/Anderson Coelho)

An Indigenous person holds a sign reading: “Water is worth more than copper”, during a protest to call for climate justice and territorial protection during the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP30), in Belem, Brazil, November 17, 2025. (Photo: REUTERS/Anderson Coelho)

What the decision changes

The final text sets out principles for rights-based, inclusive transitions and establishes a global mechanism to support countries in implementing these principles – elevating the mechanism to a structural component of how climate action will be delivered in the Paris Agreement era.

The agreement also reinforces the expectation that social and economic dimensions must be central to national climate plans, not appended to them. 

A just transition for renewables: Why COP30 must put people before power

The work starts now

Civil society will remain closely engaged as the mechanism takes shape, arguing that its effectiveness will depend on whether it reflects the realities facing workers, communities and families in transitions already underway. 

The next phase will hinge on the operational details governments agree in the months ahead. Key questions include the design of the committee, what form secretariat support will take, and whether civil society and trade unions will have a formal seat in its work.

Parties will also need to decide whether the mechanism should help convene a wider network of practitioners. Its first workplan, the identification of support needs, and clarification of how it will interact with existing UNFCCC bodies, will shape how effective it becomes – with decisions expected at COP31.

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Brazil’s Lula requests national roadmap for fossil fuel transition

Brazil’s Lula requests national roadmap for fossil fuel transition
Brazil’s Lula requests national roadmap for fossil fuel transition
Brazil’s Lula requests national roadmap for fossil fuel transition

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has asked his government to draft by February guidelines for a national roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels, an idea he championed during COP30.

In a directive issued on Monday, the Brazilian leader requested the ministries of finance, energy and environment, together with the chief of staff’s office, to come up with a proposal for a roadmap to a “just and planned energy transition” that would lead to the “gradual reduction of the country’s dependence on fossil fuels”.

The order also calls for the creation of financial mechanisms to support a roadmap, including an “Energy Transition Fund” that would be financed with government revenues from oil and gas exploration.

The guidelines, due in 60 days, will be delivered “as a priority” to Brazil’s National Energy Policy Council, which will use them to craft an official fossil fuel transition roadmap.

    At the COP30 climate summit in Brazil, President Lula and Environment Minister Marina Silva called on countries to agree a process leading to an international roadmap for the transition away from fossil fuels, after Silva argued earlier in June that “the worst possible thing would be for us to not plan for this transition”.

    Yet, to the disappointment of more than 80 countries, the proposal for a global roadmap did not make it into the final Belém agreement as other nations that are heavily reliant on fossil fuel production resisted the idea. Draft compromise language that would have offered countries support to produce national roadmaps was axed.

    Brazil seeks to set an example

    Instead, Brazil’s COP30 president said he would work with governments and industry on a voluntary initiative to produce such a roadmap by next year’s UN climate summit, while a group of some 25 countries backed a conference to discuss a just transition away from coal, oil and gas that will be hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands in April 2026.

    Former German climate envoy Jennifer Morgan said in a statement that Brazil moving forward with a national roadmap just after COP30 shows growing momentum, and that the roadmap discussions in Belém were not abstract.

    “President Lula’s leadership helps keep this agenda high on the political calendar and creates space for others to follow. Other countries should move quickly to do the same and reinforce the economic transition away from fossil fuels happening around the world,” she said.

    Experts at Observatório do Clima, a network of 130 Brazilian climate NGOs, welcomed Lula’s subsequent order for a national roadmap and said in a statement it sends signals abroad that Brazil is “doing its homework”.

    “President Lula seems to be taking the roadmap proposal seriously,” said Cláudio Angelo, international policy coordinator at Observatório do Clima. “If Brazil – a developing country and the world’s eighth-largest oil producer – demonstrates that it is willing to practice what it preaches, it becomes harder for other countries to allege difficulties.”

    The Amazon rainforest emerges as the new global oil frontier  

    Brazil is one of a number of countries planning a major expansion of oil and gas extraction in the coming decade, according to the Production Gap report put together by think-tanks and NGOs. Much of the exploration is set to take place offshore near the Amazon basin, which is poised to become a new frontier for fossil fuel development.

    Significant funding needed

    Natalie Unterstell, president of the Brazilian climate nonprofit Talanoa Institute and a member of Lula’s Council for Sustainable Social Economic Development, welcomed the national roadmap proposal in a post on LinkedIn, but emphasised it must tackle Brazil’s goal of becoming the world’s fourth largest oil producer by 2030.

    Another key question is whether the Energy Transition Fund it envisages will be large enough to catalyse a real shift over to clean energy, she added. “Small and fragmented tools won’t move the dial,” she wrote.

    Some Brazilian states have tested a model similar to the proposal for a national Energy Transition Fund. In the oil-producing state of Espirito Santo, for example, a percentage of the state government’s oil revenues go to a sovereign fund that invests in renewable energy, energy efficiency projects and substitution of fossil fuels with less polluting alternatives.

    Colombia seeks to speed up a “just” fossil fuel phase-out with first global conference

    Andreas Sieber, associate director for policy at campaign group 350.org, said a meaningful roadmap for Brazil would need to secure “adequate, fair and transparent financing to make the transition real on the ground”.

    He also called for “a truly participatory process – involving scientists, civil society, workers whose livelihoods are at stake, and frontline and traditional communities whose rights must be upheld – while ensuring that those with vested fossil fuel interests do not shape the outcome”.

    This story was edited to add comments by Jennifer Morgan

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    COP30 Bulletin Day 5: COP30 could greenlight work on a fossil fuel transition roadmap

    COP30 Bulletin Day 5: COP30 could greenlight work on a fossil fuel transition roadmap
    COP30 Bulletin Day 5: COP30 could greenlight work on a fossil fuel transition roadmap
    COP30 Bulletin Day 5: COP30 could greenlight work on a fossil fuel transition roadmap
    COP30 Bulletin Day 5: COP30 could greenlight work on a fossil fuel transition roadmap
    COP30 Bulletin Day 5: COP30 could greenlight work on a fossil fuel transition roadmap

    As a growing number of countries start to rally publicly behind a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels at COP30, governments are trying to pin down what those discussions would look like, and what the talks in Belém could deliver.

    At the leaders’ summit before COP began, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva issued a call to push forward on a fossil fuel transition roadmap. His COP30 team has so far stuck to the line that the ask for a roadmap was already in the country’s NDC issued last year, and as such is not new, although it is not on the formal agenda in Belém.  

    “This is something that is critical to the COP30 presidency,” COP30’s programme director Alice Amorim told a high-level event on the sidelines of the talks this Friday. “Not all of the outcomes will all be visible this year. But it’s important to have a process. It’s important to start moving from the idea of action to actual action.”

    “We hope to see many results coming out of this COP and these conversations – and we stand ready as COP30 presidency to facilitate as much as we can the conversations moving forward.”

    Speaking to journalists separately on Friday afternoon, Germany’s State Secretary for Climate Action Jochen Flasbarth said he had not expected “anything here on fossil fuels, but President Lula’s opening speech was a game changer […] Now I think there is potential to do something and start a process.”

      The form and scope of any roadmap is still on the drawing board. UK climate minister Katie White, for example, said at the same event that “we need universal action combining all the (existing) initiatives into one global system that powers and coordinates change. This is what the roadmap can do.” 

      While discussions on a plan to transition away from fossil fuels are new inside negotiating rooms, outside of the UN climate process countries have been talking about it for years through initiatives like the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA) and the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA).

      For Vera Rodenhoff, Germany’s deputy director for international climate action, coming out of COP30 with a clear path forward is key. The process should be informed by the best available science and deliver action “inside and outside the climate process”, she said.

      A process to craft a roadmap would take as a basis the COP28 deal in 2023 where all countries first agreed to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems, Fiji’s permanent secretary for climate change, Sivendra Michael, told Climate Home News. Small island nations, among them Fiji, have pushed for the conversations to advance in the negotiating rooms.

      “It’s about time that we start negotiating on the pathways to reach that compromise,” he said, adding that for a roadmap to be successful, finance for developing countries will be critical. “[Developing countries] deserve to have access to predictable and simplified finance so that we are able to respond accordingly,” Michael said.

      However, the abrupt start to these conversations – spurred by Lula’s pre-COP call for a fossil fuel transition roadmap – has resulted in some groups of countries scrambling to formulate a unified position, especially because it is not on the formal negotiating agenda.

      Richard Muyungi, the chair of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN), told Climate Home News on Friday that African countries had yet to coordinate their views on the issue, but would do so if developments at COP30 require it.

      He emphasised that while it “is a very important issue”, Africa is a diverse continent including oil-producing nations and others that have low levels of development, so settling on a pan-African view will require understanding a range of views.

      “But… generally as a continent, we are the least responsible for the [climate] problem, and this is the continent which chooses to harness all the available energy sources to develop,” he said, adding that Africa should not be forced or pushed towards a trajectory that threatens to undermine its development agenda.

      Indigenous peoples blockade venue to defend territories

      Carrying traditional spears and signs calling for an end to the exploitation of the Amazon rainforest, dozens of Indigenous people blocked the main entrance to the COP30 climate summit on Friday morning. 

      Long queues formed as delegates were asked to enter through what is normally the venue’s exit to access the negotiations. The protest ended after several hours when COP30 bosses André Corrêa do Lago and Ana Toni joined the demonstrators to listen to their concerns. 

      At a press conference on Friday evening, Corrêa do Lago said the protesters had arrived peacefully and that security had done their job correctly. The demonstrators had met with himself, Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva and Indigenous Peoples Minister Sonia Guajajara – herself a Brazilian indigenous activist and environmentalist – where they expressed concerns about their limited participation in COP30. 

      “I explained that COP30 is, in fact, a positive agenda for Indigenous peoples, and that we want to increase constantly the recognition of their work as guardians of these extraordinary forests all over the world,” Corrêa do Lago said.

      COP30 President André Correa do Lago sits on a chair surrounded by Indigenous Peoples in traditional dress

      Brazil’s COP30 President André Correa do Lago, Minister of Indigenous Peoples Sonia Guajajara, and Environment Minister Marina Silva attend a meeting with Indigenous peoples at COP30 in Belém (Photo: Hermes Caruzo/COP30)

      On Friday morning outside the venue, the protesters, belonging to the Munduruku tribe, demanded an end to development projects, including large-scale infrastructure and mining that affect the rights of Indigenous people living in the Valley of the Tapajós River in the Amazon, InfoAmazonia reported. 

      They carried signs displaying slogans like “fighting for our territories is fighting for our lives” alongside images showing the destruction of natural habitats.  

      While delegates waited in a long queue in Belém’s hot, humid weather, many remarked that it was refreshing to see a COP presidency engage directly with demonstrators. Over the past three summits – in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan – similar protests outside UN venues had been effectively banned. 

      “This is what happens when you finally host the talks in a democracy,” one said. 

        During the sit-in, Brazilian army officers in riot gear formed a protective cordon in front of the venue’s main entrance. The COP30 hosts have stepped up security measures after a group of Indigenous protesters on Tuesday evening forced their way into the conference centre and clashed with security guards. 

        Brazil, the host nation of COP30, has stressed the importance of giving Indigenous people a voice in this year’s climate negotiations.

        But Indigenous people are frustrated that more cannot access the negotiating area of the COP30 venue, known as the Blue Zone. According to analysis by InfoAmazonia, only 360 of 2,500 Indigenous Brazilians received accreditation for that space. The Brazilian government says that’s more than any previous COP – but it’s only a small fraction of the 56,000 people registered to attend this year’s UN climate talks.

        Climate Home joined a flotilla of dozens of boats on Wednesday when hundreds of Indigenous people, many hailing from the Tapajós River region, sailed in the Amazon River delta to raise concerns about Brazil’s oil and gas, mining and agricultural expansion in their forests.

        Following Friday’s protest, Brazilian media outlet InfoAmazonia reported that the federal government announced it will move forward with the demarcation of the Sawré Muybu and Sawré Ba’pim Indigenous Lands (TIs) of the Munduruku people in Pará state, and has committed to analysing the impacts of large infrastructure projects in the Tapajós Basin.

        Transition minerals make debut in COP text

        As pushed by developing countries and campaigners, the question of how to extract the minerals needed to ramp up clean energy deployment in a greener and fairer way have appeared in draft text at the climate negotiations for the first time.

        On Friday, an informal note gathering the views of countries was issued as the basis of negotiations for the Just Transition Work Programme, which aims to ensure that the transition to clean energy systems is equitable and sustainable among and within countries.

        The text – none of which is currently agreed – recognises “the social and environmental risks associated with scaling up supply chains for clean energy technologies, including risks arising from the extraction and processing of critical minerals”.

        COP30 could confront “glaring gap” in clean energy agenda: mining

        It also “recalls” the principles and recommendations of a UN expert panel, which said governments and industry should put human rights at the core of the minerals value chain, from mining to recycling. 

        Campaigners widely welcomed the inclusion of critical minerals – after language was proposed by the UK, backed by Australia and the European Union – as a key step, even though it will still have to be agreed by all countries.“For the first time, minerals are on the main stage of COP negotiations – no longer a side show,” said Melissa Marengo, a senior policy officer at the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI).

        Read the full story here.

        Fossil fuel presence reaches largest share at COP30 

        Meanwhile, as delegates in Belém discuss how to approach an energy transition, a new report says they are more likely to bump into a fossil fuel lobbyist in the conference hallways than in previous years.

        A yearly analysis by a coalition of NGOs called Kick Big Polluters Out revealed on Friday that one in 25 people at COP30 represent the fossil fuel industry in some way, with a total of 1,600 lobbyists granted access to the UN climate change conference in Brazil.

        If grouped together into a delegation, fossil fuel industry representatives would outnumber every other government delegation but that of the host nation Brazil. They also outnumber all the delegates from the 10 most climate-vulnerable nations combined.

        The lobbyists mostly register through trade bodies such as the International Emissions Trading Association, which brought 60 people including representatives of TotalEnergies, BP and ExxonMobil, the report says.

        Many of the industry representatives carry badges approved by countries known as “party overflow”, the report says – among them Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of TotalEnergies, who was awarded a French badge.

        Gender talks hung up on definitions

        Last year’s COP agreed on a 10-year extension of the Lima Work Programme to integrate gender equality into climate action and the development of a new Gender Action Plan, with two workshops scheduled before COP30 – one at the mid-year talks in Bonn and another in September in Addis Ababa. With all that previous effort, negotiators expected a smooth start in Belém – but that wasn’t the case.

        On Monday, the first day of the summit, Paraguay and Argentina raised their hands to argue that gender should be defined as “biological sex”, something activists said would backslide on human rights language the UN has been using.

        Yet while the negotiations may have got hung up on definitions, also on Monday, 92 countries signed a Global Statement on Gender Equality and Climate Action. In it they committed to adopt a strong and inclusive gender plan “guided by an understanding of multidimensional factors, including clear priorities, and ensure meaningful and effective implementation over the next decade.”

        “Multidimensional factors” is a way to refer to intersectionality – a term that denotes how social relations involve multiple forms of discrimination and also caused rows during COP29.

        Catherine Pettengell, executive director of Climate Action Network UK, welcomed the statement’s reference to key issues faced by women and girls due to climate climate impacts – such as gender-based violence and disproportionate care work – as well as calls for them to be addressed. “This demonstrates an important commitment to address the structural barriers to equality that women and girls face,” she said.

        An Indigenous woman attends the People’s Summit during the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30). (Photo by Rafa Pereira/COP30)

        An Indigenous woman attends the People’s Summit during the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30). (Photo by Rafa Pereira/COP30)

        Claudia Rubio Giraldo, from the Women’s Environment & Development Organization, said the statement champions a constructive spirit and the collaboration needed to reach a good agreement, something she described as especially important in the current political climate. 

        But she also said that without financing, the push for gender balance and women’s inclusion in climate action would fail. “You can’t develop a gender action plan that is not actionable because it doesn’t have the resources to be actionable,” she said. 

        Campaigners are not expecting a quantitative goal to be set, but rather to gain direct access to funding for women — and want gender to be addressed in the climate finance negotiations.

        The current draft that is undergoing revision by governments has close to 30 activities, each one with around five deliverables, including inputs from civil society. Rubio told Climate Home News, “we don’t care if it’s long, as we have 10 years to work on this.”

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        Africa wants wiggle room on energy transition as funds fall short

        Africa wants wiggle room on energy transition as funds fall short
        Africa wants wiggle room on energy transition as funds fall short
        Africa wants wiggle room on energy transition as funds fall short
        Africa wants wiggle room on energy transition as funds fall short

        African countries at COP30 say a lack of climate finance to speed the transition to renewable energy means they should be given more leeway to use their fossil fuel resources to benefit their people.

        As support grows at the climate talks in Belém for a global roadmap on transitioning away from fossil fuels, championed by Brazil’s president and environment minister, leaders and officials from Nigeria, Ghana and Mozambique have said African nations should be allowed to keep using their fossil fuel resources to develop their economies.

        Africa receives less than 2% of international clean energy investment, and badly needs funding to help increase access to power supplies, which some 600 million people still lack, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

        Carlos Lopes, COP30’s special envoy for Africa, told Climate Home News that while the priority is still for Africa to transition as quickly as possible to renewables, “if the funding is not coming, Africans have to be pragmatic and will have to use any possibilities to enhance their development”.

        “Africans are basically trapped not because of infrastructure but because of the financing schemes that are not allowing them to move as fast as they should wish for the new form of economy,” Lopes said, adding that too much global finance was going into fossil fuels rather than renewables.

          The IEA’s “Financing Electricity Access in Africa” 2025 report found that less than $2.5 billion was committed for new electricity access connections in sub-Saharan Africa in 2023. Meanwhile, financing has been concentrated in a small number of countries including Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya, and has been skewed towards urban areas.

          African leaders call for “room” for fossil fuels

          Several African countries have lowered ambition for cutting emissions in their latest national climate plans (known as NDCs), citing a lack of funding that has hampered climate action, a message that was echoed during the leaders’ summit in Belém last week.

          Ghanaian minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah said “conversations [on phasing out] must be approached with strategic care and profound understanding”.

          “To deny Africa the strategic use of these [natural] resources is to deny our right to develop, to light our homes and to power industries,” Buah, Ghana’s lands minister and acting environment minister, told the leaders’ summit.

          Mozambique President Daniel Chapo, meanwhile, supported the idea of a just transition, but one that gives Africa the “economic and political room” to use its natural resources to benefit its people.

          A boy follows a woman carrying a sack on her head as they walk towards a burning gas flaring furnace at a flow station in Ughelli, Delta State., Nigeria September 17, 2020. Picture taken September 17, 2020. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

          A boy follows a woman carrying a sack on her head as they walk towards a burning gas flaring furnace at a flow station in Ughelli, Delta State., Nigeria September 17, 2020. Picture taken September 17, 2020. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

          Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, had already made clear in its NDC that it planned to boost the use of natural gas as a so-called transition fuel.

          Vice President Kashim Shettima told the leaders’ meeting that Nigeria would use natural gas “to stabilise power and drive industrial growth” while promoting clean energy by expanding solar and off-grid solutions for rural electrification.

          A just transition made for Africa

          The world agreed for the first time to begin “transitioning away from fossil fuels” two years ago at COP28 in Dubai, but a plan to implement that pledge at the global level has yet to be sketched out.

          If countries decide to work on one, it is likely that poor countries will ask for rich nations to set earlier deadlines to reduce their production and use of coal, oil and gas.

          Nafi Quarshie, Africa director for the non-profit Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), said any fossil fuel phase-out targets in a roadmap must be “concrete and time-bound”, and reflect different realities. 

          “Africa cannot be talking about phase-out when it has not phased in,” she told a press conference on Wednesday. “Africa’s pathway cannot mirror Europe’s or America’s. The transition in Africa must prioritise energy access, job creation, diversification and development, not just emissions reduction targets.” 

          Until the COP process delivers on its financial promises to Africa, the continent cannot be asked to abandon the fossil fuels that currently provide a huge chunk of government revenues in some economies “without credible, accessible, or predictable financial support to replace them,” Quarshie added.

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          COP30 draft text includes energy transition minerals in UN climate first

          COP30 draft text includes energy transition minerals in UN climate first
          COP30 draft text includes energy transition minerals in UN climate first
          COP30 draft text includes energy transition minerals in UN climate first
          COP30 draft text includes energy transition minerals in UN climate first

          For the first time in UN climate negotiations, countries attending COP30 in Belém, Brazil, are grappling with the implications of extracting minerals required to manufacture batteries, solar panels and wind turbines.

          On Friday, a draft text on ensuring that the transition to clean energy systems is just and sustainable – a negotiation stream known as the Just Transition Work Programme – recognised “the social and environmental risks associated with scaling up supply chains for clean energy technologies, including risks arising from the extraction and processing of critical minerals”.

          It also “recalled” the principles and recommendations of a UN expert panel, which called on governments and industry to put human rights at the core of the minerals value chain, from mining to recycling. The UN panel report, published last year, set out key principles to ensure that mineral supply chains benefit countries and local communities endowed with resources, create jobs, diversify economies and generate revenue for development.

          “For the first time, minerals are on the main stage of COP negotiations – no longer a side show,” said Melissa Marengo, a senior policy officer at the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI).

            Demand for metals such as copper, cobalt, lithium, nickel and graphite that are vital for manufacturing clean energy transition technologies is soaring. But extracting them creates both new economic opportunities, as well as social and environmental risks for resource-rich countries.

            Around the world, increased mining activity has fuelled environmental destruction, deforestation and conflict with communities.

            Last week, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told leaders gathered in Belém that it is “impossible to discuss the energy transition without talking about critical minerals, essential to make batteries, solar panels and energy systems”. Brazil has the world’s second-largest reserves of rare earths, which are used to manufacture permanent magnets for EV motors and wind turbines.

            Developing countries have called for the impacts and opportunities of mining minerals for the energy transition to be included in the text. African countries, which hold more than 30% of the world’s critical mineral reserves, have been vocal on the issue. The African Group of Negotiators told COP30’s opening plenary that Africa’s resources “must translate into tangible benefits”.

            “Water is worth more than lithium,” Indigenous Argentine community tells COP30

            Earlier this week, the UK, backed by Australia and the European Union, proposed language on the importance of fair, transparent, traceable and environmentally sustainable mineral supply chains for the energy transition.

            The whole draft text, which is described as an “informal note” and is meant as the basis for negotiations on the Just Transition Work Programme, is bracketed, meaning that none of it has yet been agreed by countries.

            Yet, campaigners widely welcomed the inclusion of minerals in the document as “a real first step”.

            Marengo said the draft reflected many of the priorities voiced by producing countries, communities on the frontline of mining projects and Indigenous peoples across developing countries.

            “But the real test begins now,” she said. “Parties must hold the line to secure strong social and environmental safeguards, fair value creation, and a genuinely just approach to transition minerals” that focus “on prosperity for producing countries and communities, and not only on supply security,” she added.

            Brazil’s COP30 President André Correa do Lago, Minister of Indigenous Peoples Sonia Guajajara, and Environment Minister Marina Silva attend a meeting with Indigenous peoples at COP30 in Belém (Photo: Hermes Caruzo/COP30)

            Brazil’s COP30 President André Correa do Lago, Minister of Indigenous Peoples Sonia Guajajara, and Environment Minister Marina Silva attend a meeting with Indigenous peoples at COP30 in Belém (Photo: Hermes Caruzo/COP30)

            The text notes that affected communities must be “central” to the design and implementation of climate measures and recognises the importance “of sustainable patterns of consumption and production”, including through circular economy approaches.

            It also acknowledges “the importance of the rights of Indigenous Peoples” including self-determination and their right to free, prior and informed consent for development projects that affect them, in addition to “the specific rights and protections for Indigenous Peoples in voluntary isolation and initial contact”, which cannot give their consent to mining on their land.

            More than half of energy transition mineral reserves are estimated to be located on or near Indigenous land.

            “We are making history, as no previous COP decision has ever recognised the rights of Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact so clearly,” said ​​Bryan Bixcul, global coordinator of the Securing Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in the Green Economy (SIRGE) coalition. “Any attempt by countries to remove or weaken this text would represent a major setback for the fulfillment of those rights,” he said.

            SIRGE has called for the text to go further still and establish exclusion or “no-go” mining zones on the land of uncontacted Indigenous groups.

            COP30 could confront “glaring gap” in clean energy agenda: mining

            Meanwhile, the inclusion of language on the “transition away from fossil fuels” remains deeply contentious, with references to fossil fuels only included as “options” in the text, meaning not everyone agrees to it being there. Saudi Arabia, large emerging economies such as India and China, and African countries opposed references to fossil fuels, according to observers present in the negotiating rooms.

            To help deliver a just energy transition beyond COP30, the draft text includes a demand from an alliance of 134 developing countries – known as the G77 and China – to establish a mechanism that could act as a one-stop shop to provide countries with technical assistance and help foster international cooperation.

            The idea has been resisted by developed countries, which argue that creating another institution would take a long time and risk duplicating the work of existing initiatives. Alternative options include “improving existing modalities”, “developing a policy tool box” and “developing guidance” to support countries deliver just transitions.

            These alternatives amount to “tweaking”, Teresa Anderson of ActionAid International told reporters. “We know that if those modalities worked, we would not be in the crisis we are facing now.”

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            COP30: Spain’s unions say just transition means renewing communities beyond jobs

            COP30: Spain’s unions say just transition means renewing communities beyond jobs
            COP30: Spain’s unions say just transition means renewing communities beyond jobs
            COP30: Spain’s unions say just transition means renewing communities beyond jobs
            COP30: Spain’s unions say just transition means renewing communities beyond jobs
            COP30: Spain’s unions say just transition means renewing communities beyond jobs

            Unions in Spain are calling for a new just transition strategy that goes beyond plant closures to revive the fabric of life in affected regions, linking public services with jobs and investment. 

            “When a power plant closes in a rural area, you don’t just lose jobs,” said Manuel Riera of UGT, one of Spain’s largest unions. “You risk losing the life of the place – the families, the neighbours, the school, the bus line. To keep people rooted, we have to rebuild whole economies.”

            The end goal is to safeguard workers, diversify rural economies, and keep families rooted.

            Spain’s breakthrough: dialogue and territorial pacts

            Spain is among the few countries to have managed coal closures through negotiated territorial pacts. Since 2018, 15 agreements have been signed between national, regional and local governments in areas hit by mine and power plant shutdowns. The government also reached tripartite accords with unions and coal companies, guaranteeing solutions for affected workers.

            “For the first time, workers and their communities had a seat at the table. It demonstrated that a just transition is possible and that social dialogue with trade unions must be the first step” Riera said. “That gave people dignity in a moment of loss.”

            These frameworks funded retraining, supported job-creating projects and ensured public participation. They became an international reference for how social dialogue can guide decarbonisation.

            A just transition for renewables: Why COP30 must put people before power

            Lessons learned: from energy to social transition

            But the experience has also exposed key limits. Job creation alone has not been enough to sustain rural life.

            “Again and again we heard: in addition to employment, what decides if families stay is whether there is transport, housing, health care, education,” Riera said. “That is what keeps a territory alive. We have to move from an energy transition to a social transition.”

            Judit Carreras Garcia, director of the Instituto para la Transición Justa (ITJ), reflected on the government’s efforts to respond to these challenges:

            “Over the years, we have sought to make the just transition a reality through concrete policies and actions — walking the talk through a wide range of measures that include employability schemes, training, funding lines for job-creating business initiatives, just transition energy tender grids, municipal support programmes and environmental restoration,” she explained.

            “All of them aim at minimising the impacts of decarbonisation and optimising outcomes based on participation and social dialogue. This effort has come with its own challenges — from managing timing gaps to addressing very different territorial starting points — but our commitment remains firm.”

            Both unions and government acknowledge that anticipation is crucial: closures must be aligned with new opportunities, and support must adapt to vastly different territorial realities – from regions facing depopulation to those with stronger infrastructure.

            Workers in Teruel province, Aragon, are worried that coal plant closures are hollowing out rural life.

            Workers in Teruel province, Aragon, are worried that coal plant closures are hollowing out rural life.

            The next phase for just transition

            UGT is now working with its federations to shape Spain’s next Just Transition Strategy (2026–2030). Visits to pact areas, including Aragón, where a coal plant closed in 2020, reveal a rising sense of frustration.

            “People are tired of waiting,” Riera said. “We have projects on paper, but they don’t see them materialising. Without effective coherent planning, workers retrain and then have to move to Madrid or Barcelona. That is not territorial justice.”

            The unions’ demand: keep the territorial approach, but expand it across ministries and sectors, ensuring that services and infrastructure grow alongside jobs.

            For Indian women workers, a just transition means surviving climate impacts with dignity

            Behind the technical debates lies a deeper fear: the hollowing out of rural Spain, where thousands of villages have already lost their young people and their future. A mishandled transition could accelerate that trend.

            “This is not only about jobs,” Riera said. “It is about whether towns survive at all. When a power station shuts, it’s not just the jobs inside the gates that disappear. The bus stops running, the school risks closing, the clinic can’t keep going, housing starts to deteriorate. Families leave, and a town empties. And once they leave, they rarely come back.”

            Sharing lessons internationally

            In September, Riera met unions from around the world to share Spain’s experience. His message was simple: we must fight for social dialogue and territorial agreements, but these are the beginning — not the end — of a just transition.

            “If decisions are only made in the capital, they miss what life is like in a village. What Madrid sees as energy policy, a small town sees as survival: will there still be a bus, a clinic, a school? That is why workers and communities must always be in the room.”

            For Riera, the work that goes into the just transition is also a chance to imagine something new.

            “We can use this moment not just to protect people from loss, but to renew rural life — to make villages places where families want to stay, where children can imagine their future. This is about dignity, but also about love: love of place, love of community, love of life itself.”

            “Water is worth more than lithium,” Indigenous Argentine community tells COP30

            A call for Belém – and beyond

            Now in Belém for COP30, Riera is bringing a clear message to world leaders: Spain’s experience shows that the just transition must be built from the ground up. The Belém Action Mechanism that has been proposed, he argues, should require cross-sector transition plans – not just energy policies; guarantee participation from workers and communities; and secure public finance capable of delivering not only jobs but the services that sustain life around them.

            “The Global South faces the same challenge: how to transition without abandoning people. Without public finance, that is impossible,” he said. “If we treat the just transition as a bargaining chip, we betray them. But if we take it seriously, we can create hope — from Spain to Brazil, from Santander to Belém.”

            “This is not only about closing coal or opening renewables,” he added. “It is about whether people can imagine a future for their children. That is what the just transition means.”

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            COP30 Bulletin Day 9: Belém package elusive as Lula steals the show

            COP30 Bulletin Day 9: Belém package elusive as Lula steals the show
            COP30 Bulletin Day 9: Belém package elusive as Lula steals the show
            COP30 Bulletin Day 9: Belém package elusive as Lula steals the show
            COP30 Bulletin Day 9: Belém package elusive as Lula steals the show

            After Brazil’s COP30 presidency said it aimed to gavel through a political package on some of the most divisive issues at the UN climate talks “very late” on Wednesday, promised new draft texts are now not expected to materialise until Thursday morning. 

            Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva returned to town and held a series of high-level meetings, including talks with delegations from the EU and China. UN Secretary-General António Guterres also conducted bilateral engagements on the sidelines.

            Lula said in an evening speech that COP30 was a COP “like no other”, and urged leaders to rise to “the people’s demands”. He added that “taking care of the climate is knowing that rich countries need to help poor countries”. 

            “It’s important for people to be aware that everyone needs to have a responsibility. That’s why we’ve brought up the issue of the roadmap,” the Brazilian president said, referencing a proposed process for a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels. 

            Yet in the negotiations, key sticking points – from trade and finance from developed countries to the proposed fossil fuel transition roadmap – remain unresolved. Brazilian negotiators are still pushing to bridge divisions in hopes of securing an early win before the formal end of the summit.

            Pressure builds for fossil fuel transition plan at COP30  

            Speaking before Lula, Brazil’s Environment Minister Marina Silva said the president had held bilateral meetings on emissions-cutting ambition, just transition and adaptation with some “complexities” but offering ways forward.

            “Everyone had questions on the roadmap, but I’m certain we had good answers. Not definitive answers, but procedural responses,” Silva said, adding that a roadmap needs language that respects developing countries and increases the responsibilities of historical polluters. 

            “It’s a live dialogue. No one has a definitive answer and no one wants to impose anything on anyone,” the minister added. “I’m certain that we still have a lot of room ahead for consensus. I believe in progressive consensus, if we all have the best intention to give our best for the climate and the most vulnerable.”.

            Meanwhile, the European Union presented its own proposal for a Mutirão Roadmap for transitioning away from fossil fuels, which would start a process to develop the roadmap by the next COP.

            Wopke Hoekstra, European Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth said he had told President Lula that a roadmap would be a “pivotal part” of the success of COP30. 

            “We’ve decided to come up with a proposal that in our view does justice to more ambition to reflect that the world needs a roadmap,” he said.

            China and Russia oppose critical minerals in draft

            Minerals needed for the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy systems made their first appearance in a draft COP text last week. But not everyone is happy about it. 

            Observers at the talks say China has opposed the inclusion of language on minerals in the text on ensuring a just energy transition within and among countries, while one with access to the negotiation rooms told Climate Home News that Russia is also resisting.  

            The current draft text for an area of the negotiations known as the Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP) includes an option to recognise the social and environmental risks from extracting minerals needed to manufacture batteries, solar panels and wind turbines. If adopted it would be the first mention of energy-transition minerals in the UN climate regime.

            The same option also recalls principles and recommendations outlined by a UN of experts convened by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, which suggested that human rights must be “at the core” of mining for transition minerals.

            Observers say China has been adamant about dropping all references to critical minerals in the COP30 draft. Russia took particular aim at the reference to the UN panel and wants it removed.

            COP30 draft text includes energy transition minerals in UN climate first

            To pressure China away from its current position, a group of activists sought to approach China’s second-in-command at COP30, Xia Yingxian, director general of the Department of Climate Change at China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE).

            After he concluded an appearance in an unrelated event at the WWF pavilion, a group of activists approached Xia to give him a letter “respectfully” calling on China to agree to the inclusion of minerals in the text, arguing that “China’s support would carry significant weight” and signal climate leadership.

            “The explicit inclusion of critical energy transition minerals is a paramount priority for key delegates and partners across the Global South and developing parties here at COP30,” the letter read. 

            After being offered the letter, Xia rejected the document several times and, after the activists insisted, he sped away towards delegation offices.

            China is a dominant actor in the transition minerals supply chain, producing more than 70% of the world’s refined lithium, 78% of the world’s refined cobalt and 91% of rare earth minerals, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

            China wants a transition towards renewables

            Battling the deafening roar of pouring rain in a remote corner of the COP venue, Xia Yingxian, director general of China’s Department of Climate Change, dropped subtle hints on where the country stands on the transition away from fossil fuels.

            Speaking in English at the WWF pavilion, Yingxian said “we are trying to push for a transition to renewables, transitioning away from fossil fuels…how to make it just, orderly and fair. We understand it’s not easy, but this is the journey we have to go together.”

            He suggested that, while there has been lots of talk about transitioning away, “such kind of narrative” could be reframed to overcome divisions. 

            How could we promote renewables? Trying to change the tone from negative to positive. This will be more than welcome,” he added.

            Pressure builds for fossil fuel transition plan at COP30 

            Xia concluded his speech saying that a change in framing to “positive prosperity” could help “unite all of us” and send the message that “we can do it together”. He added the framing should not be about “losing” but “how we can win”.

            China – the world’s largest producer of solar and wind technologies – has so far not publicly voiced a position on calls for a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels at COP30. 

            Yesterday, more than 80 countries asked that a process to craft a roadmap to shift the world away from oil, coal and gas be agreed as one of the main outcomes from Belém.

            A worker at Dafeng Power Station, which poduces electricity with solar and wind (Photo credit: Zhiyoung Fu/Greenpeace)

            A worker at Dafeng Power Station, which poduces electricity with solar and wind (Photo credit: Zhiyoung Fu/Greenpeace)

            Roadmap to end deforestation lags fossil fuel plan at Amazon COP

            As countries ramp up pressure for a COP30 decision on a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels, they have yet to push hard in the Amazon city of Belém for another much-anticipated roadmap to end deforestation.

            Discussions on both mechanisms took off after Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told world leaders at the summit’s opening that COP30 must deliver “roadmaps to plan in a fair way the reversal of deforestation, reducing the dependency on fossil fuels and to mobilise the necessary resources to reach these objectives”.

            Since then, more than 80 countries have rallied behind a fossil fuel transition roadmap – yet negotiators from tropical countries and observers say a roadmap to end deforestation has not gained the same momentum at the UN climate talks.

            At least 42 countries have expressed support for a deforestation roadmap – among them the European Union, the AILAC group of Latin American countries and the Environmental Integrity Group which includes Mexico, Liechtenstein, Monaco, South Korea, Switzerland and Georgia.

            World failing on goal to halt deforestation by 2030, raising stakes for Amazon COP

            Current negotiating drafts include an option to convene a dialogue of ministers on the creation of national roadmaps to end deforestation, which observers told Climate Home News is a weak option that must be improved with more pressure from countries.

            Panama’s head of delegation Juan Carlos Monterrey told an event hosted by Climate Home News this week that a plan to protect forests has to be one of the key outcomes of COP30. “If we don’t get a roadmap to end deforestation at the Amazonia COP, we will never get it,” he said.

            Read the full story here.

            Latin America issues joint call for adaptation indicators in Belém

            Latin American countries in the AILAC group advocated for a strong adaptation outcome at COP30, after African countries called for a two-year delay in the adoption of metrics to track climate resilience – a key deliverable at the summit.

            Countries are discussing a set of indicators under the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), which they are expected to use to track progress on how they are coping with the impacts of climate change. But African countries want to hold off unless developed countries agree to triple adaptation finance to $120 billion a year by 2030, saying the metrics are meaningless without money to help them ramp up resilience. 

            Poorest countries appeal for more adaptation finance at COP30

            The current draft texts of the “Mutirão” pact – the main expected outcome at COP30 – and the GGA both include options to establish a finance goal for adaptation. COP30 president André Correa do Lago said the two decisions are “interlinked”.

            “It’s very important that we finish the indicators here. We’ve had two years of work. Technical teams have made progress on a list. It’s not perfect – nothing is – but it exists. We need that list approved so we can begin to implement it,” said Chile’s Environment Minister Maisa Rojas.

            “We can’t leave a Latin American COP here in Belém without that set of indicators that can help us make progress in this area,” she added.

            Latin American ministers (centre: Romina Caminada Vallejo, Peru’s minister of strategic development and natural resources) talk to the media at COP30 in Belem, Brazil on November 19, 2025. (Photo: Charlie Dakin)

            Latin American ministers (centre: Romina Caminada Vallejo, Peru’s minister of strategic development and natural resources) talk to the media at COP30 in Belem, Brazil on November 19, 2025. (Photo: Charlie Dakin)

            As dozens of reporters surrounded the group of Latin American ministers in an impromptu press huddle, the heads of delegation reiterated the need for finance to back up those indicators, which the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) appealed for on Tuesday.

            Edwin Castellanos, environment minister of Guatemala, said vulnerable countries “cannot keep adapting with our own resources”, adding that developed countries must provide accessible finance. 

            “We cannot keep waiting for years while projects are developed and our communities keep suffering the impacts of climate change,” he said.

            A UN report issued in the run-up to COP30 said developing countries will need to spend between $310 billion and $365 billion per year on measures to adapt to worsening climate change impacts by 2035. 

            Rojas of Chile said “we must ensure that finance reaches communities”, adding that one option would be to allocate a share of last year’s finance goal agreed in Baku for adaptation. It promises to mobilise $300 billion a year by 2035 in public finance for climate action in developing countries.

            This is the preferred option of European countries, which have opposed reopening finance talks in Belem.

            Gender Action Plan negotiations still haggling over definitions 

            The latest draft of the Gender Action Plan (GAP) was released yesterday and has six footnotes, four of them about the mere definition of gender. They were added by Paraguay, Argentina, Iran and the Vatican. 

            There are also two placeholders for footnotes from Indonesia, also related to the same topic. Climate Home News understands that, even if Russia doesn’t have a footnote to its name, it is one of the main countries pushing for the use of “women and girls” instead of the word “gender”. Other blockers include Saudi Arabia and Iran.

            “We’ve always had fights on the Gender Action Plan… but this is different. This is trying to actually push women back by having this binary definition,” said Mary Robinson, former Irish president who is now a member of the Elders. “It’s so cruel. I mean, it’s actually unbelievable that this would enter into our space.” 

            Campaigners during a demonstration for gender justice during COP30. Photo: UN Climate Change – Kiara Worth

            Campaigners say that this row over gender hasn’t been limited to the GAP negotiations, but forms part of a bigger, coordinated effort to backtrack on human rights language. A recent press release by the Women and Gender Constituency shows that gender references have received pushback in the negotiations on adaptation, mitigation, the Global Stocktake of climate action and the Green Climate Fund. 

            Bridget Burns, from the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), told a press conference that in the past two years those wanting to undermine gender progress have been “emboldened by elections around the world that have shifted countries to the right”, including in the US election. In turn, she added that has triggered “a much stronger and more coordinated pushback to the pushback.” 

            On day one of COP, 92 countries signed a “Global Statement on Gender Equality and Climate Action Ahead of COP30”, reaffirming their commitment to a strong GAP, “because there was an awareness of what we might face in this process,” said Burns. 

            As the days went by and the negotiations seemed to unfold in a more or less peaceful way, the “Belém GAP” was supposed to appear on the first “Mutirão” decision package, but in the end it was left out as COP30 President André Correa do Lago said it was not directly related to the issues addressed in that planned decision. The topic is now being discussed in consultations led by ministers, as with other negotiating tracks. 

            “I would like to remind President Lula and the negotiators from Brazil that President Lula was mainly elected by women in this country,” said Michelle Ferreti, founder of the Brazilian Instituto Alzira. “It’s time to honour those who put them into power.”

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            Rich nations push back on calls for new just transition mechanism

            Rich nations push back on calls for new just transition mechanism
            Rich nations push back on calls for new just transition mechanism
            Rich nations push back on calls for new just transition mechanism
            Rich nations push back on calls for new just transition mechanism
            Rich nations push back on calls for new just transition mechanism

            Developed nations including the UK, Norway, Canada, Australia and the EU are pushing back on a proposal at COP30 to create a just transition mechanism to bolster and unify efforts to help workers and communities adversely affected by the shift away from fossil fuels, the plan’s backers say.

            Championed by civil society activists who have dubbed it the “Belém Action Mechanism” (BAM), the proposal to establish a dedicated global facility won backing at the climate talks from the largest group of developing nations, the G77+China. Under the proposal, developing countries would receive financial and technical assistance aimed at ensuring a fair transition to clean energy.

            A global green shift is expected to change the nature of employment in sectors such as coal mines, oil refineries, construction and car factories. Jobs will be lost in high-carbon industries and new ones created in clean technology supply chains, bringing both threats and opportunities for the affected workers and their families and communities.

            Activists say establishing an institutional framework is vital to making sure global climate action to cut emissions does not end up leaving anyone behind.

              But a significant number of developed countries are “generally not being positive about the mechanism”, said Anabella Rosemberg, senior advisor on just transition at Climate Action Network International, adding that they did not see the need for a coordination unit on just transition policies.

              “Basically these countries do not want any new or innovative way of bringing the just transition community together,” Rosemberg said, referring to the proposals for the mechanism aimed at facilitating global dialogue, sharing best practice and informing new policy around the world.

              The draft text on the UN’s Just Transition Work Programme released on Tuesday included several alternatives to the mechanism, including an action plan and a policy toolbox to help countries advance their just transition plans and turn principles into concrete national strategies.

              UN Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the calls for the mechanism, as well as the “growing coalition asking for clarity on the transition away from fossil fuels”.

              “Governments must support workers and communities still relying on coal, oil and gas with training, protection and new opportunities to go on with their lives in a positive way,” he said at COP30 on Thursday.



              Sharing know-how, and financing

              Supporters of the BAM proposal say just transition efforts are currently fragmented and would benefit from having an institutional mechanism to pull together funding and policymaking experiences, as well as fostering cooperation between different agencies and financial institutions working to support just transition.

              “What we are trying to do with the mechanism is to really help the countries that want to put [just transition] strategies in place access much faster the capacity and the financing that is out there,” Rosemberg said.

              Bert De Wel, global climate policy coordinator at the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), said a mechanism could help countries introduce just transition policies “with a strong focus on labour rights, trade union participation and social dialogue”.

              Integrate just transition instead, says Norway

              Some opponents of creating a new mechanism say just transition efforts would be better advanced by strengthening existing institutions rather than building a new one.

              “This is most efficient because then the committees can start working without delay,” a spokesperson from the Norwegian Ministry for Climate and Environment told Climate Home News, adding that existing bodies under the Paris Agreement already cover most of the topics in the just transition draft decision, including finance, technology development and transfer, and capacity building

              “It takes many years to develop a new mechanism,” the spokesperson said, even if countries can overcome their current differences over its potential scope and mandate. In the meantime, Norway supports developing guidance for existing bodies to better integrate just transition into their work. 

              Civil society activists stage protests at COP30 in Belem calling for the institutionalisation of a just transition mechanism. Photo by IISD/ENB | Mike Muzurakis

              “Not a fund” 

              The fear that a BAM could become another source of financial demands is one of the biggest concerns for the EU and developed countries, De Wel said. But while public finance is needed to roll out a just transition, he said “this doesn’t mean that these issues need to be sourced in the just transition mechanism”.

              A just transition for renewables: Why COP30 must put people before power

              He said the mechanism would seek to get multilateral development banks and other funders on board to make sure that money is being spent in a way that “respects labour criteria” and does not stop the Global South accessing resources that are already available.

              Rosemberg said there have been questions around whether the mechanism would be a new fund but the civil society and G77 proposals clarify that the two things are not the same. “This is much more a facility for accelerating delivery of finance that already exists than a new fund,” she said. 

              Rosemberg said, however, that what would need to be funded is the operation of the BAM, which would cost about $10 million per year. This money would support research and the setting up of a secretariat, Kuda Manjojo of Power Shift Africa told Climate Home.

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              Just transition, finance and equity – that’s how we get COP30 to act on fossil fuels 

              Just transition, finance and equity – that’s how we get COP30 to act on fossil fuels 
              Just transition, finance and equity – that’s how we get COP30 to act on fossil fuels 
              Just transition, finance and equity – that’s how we get COP30 to act on fossil fuels 
              Just transition, finance and equity – that’s how we get COP30 to act on fossil fuels 
              Just transition, finance and equity – that’s how we get COP30 to act on fossil fuels 

              Brandon Wu oversees research, advocacy, coalition building and campaigning work for ActionAid USA.

              Leaders are supposed to lead by example. If you broke it, you’re meant to fix it (or at least pay for it). You’re supposed to do unto others as you’d have them do unto you.

              These and any number of other tired cliches are actually incredibly useful for describing the seemingly interminable deadlocks at UN climate negotiations like COP30. 

              There is a set of rich developed countries that call themselves “climate leaders.” They caused the climate crisis through their emissions, and they should be fixing it by zeroing out those emissions and paying for poorer countries to do the same. They should be treating countries and communities harmed by climate impacts with compassion and solidarity.

              News flash: they aren’t doing any of those things. And somehow we act surprised that the climate negotiations haven’t yet produced the massive breakthroughs the world needs?

              No transition without concrete support

              It might be easy to blame certain countries for being unhappy with a proposed roadmap to end fossil fuels, backed by 80-90 nations at the talks. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that the wealthy countries that are pushing for the roadmap – the European Union most stridently – are themselves not anywhere close to being on track to phase out fossil fuels. 

              Just as importantly, developed countries as a whole have consistently refused to provide meaningful amounts of climate finance in line with needs, despite their extremely clear obligations and the practical realities of the need for support in developing countries.

              COP30 Bulletin Day 11: With talks in “crisis”, countries urged to unite for COP30 deal

              Of course we need a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels – that is what many of us are here to achieve. But if the transition away from fossil fuels is not just, it will not succeed. And if there is no support from developed to developing countries, not only will the transitions there not be just – in many cases they will not happen at all.

              Just transition mechanism close?

              To that end, at COP30, negotiators are getting tantalizingly close to an outcome on “just transition” – a framework to support countries to ensure their communities and workers are lifted up rather than left behind as they transition to a new and more sustainable economy. 

              Civil society has been pushing hard for a “Belem Action Mechanism,” or BAM, that would embed just transition principles into a coherent, practical and actionable system. The guiding principle behind the push for the BAM, and for just transition more broadly, is that without justice, any massive economic transition will fail, as it will be impossible to garner the necessary political support to implement it.

              The BAM was the major priority for many activists and developing countries coming into this COP, and a great deal of open and transparent negotiations have gone into trying to make it a reality. In contrast, the fossil fuel roadmap – necessary as some form of it is – was dropped into the formal negotiations late, without any transparent process.

              Rich nations push back on calls for new just transition mechanism

              Developing countries need a comprehensive package

              Between rich country intransigence and undemocratic processes, it’s understandable – and justifiable – that many developing countries, including most of the Africa Group, are uncomfortable with the fossil fuel roadmap being pushed for at COP30. It doesn’t mean they are all “blockers” or want the world to burn, and characterizing them as such is irresponsible.

              The core package of just transition, public finance – including for adaptation and loss and damage – and phasing out fossil fuels and deforestation is exactly that: a package. The latter simply will not happen, politically or practically, without the former. 

              If COP30 ends without a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels and deforestation, let’s make sure we keep the pressure on the real culprits: the rich countries that keep coming to these negotiations offering nothing but demanding everything.

              The post Just transition, finance and equity – that’s how we get COP30 to act on fossil fuels  appeared first on Climate Home News.

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              Colombia seeks to speed up a “just” fossil fuel phase-out with first global conference

              Colombia seeks to speed up a “just” fossil fuel phase-out with first global conference
              Colombia seeks to speed up a “just” fossil fuel phase-out with first global conference

              As sharp divisions at UN talks stall progress on a shift away from fossil fuels, 24 countries have backed a first global conference on the transition, saying the summit in Colombia next April is needed to speed up efforts to wean the world off planet-heating oil, gas and coal. 

              The conference aims to bring together governments, experts, industry leaders and Indigenous people among others, to chart “legal, economic and social pathways” for a fair and just phase-out of fossil fuels, Colombia’s Environment Minister Irene Vélez Torres told journalists at COP30 on Friday. 

              Supporters of the initiative include major fossil fuel producers Australia and Mexico, as well as several European, Latin American and Pacific island nations. 

              Colombia and the Netherlands will co-host the event on April 28-29 in the Colombian port city of Santa Marta, which plays a significant role in coal exports.  

              Speaking after the release of a COP30 draft decision text that failed to mention fossil fuels, Vélez Torres told a packed-out room: “We know that this conversation cannot end here.”

              “We must keep the momentum, lead with bravery, rise to the challenge, and build a coalition of the willing,” she added. 

              The conference is meant to sit alongside discussions taking place under the UN climate regime, where all 198 signatories need to reach decisions by consensus. 

              Conference to feed into COP31

              Vanuatu’s climate minister Ralph Regenvanu said the Colombia-led coalition is needed to advance discussions over the transition regardless of what happens at COP30. The conference “will strengthen the process here next time we meet in Turkiye” at COP31, he added.

              Australia, a backer of the initiative, announced this week that it will run negotiations at COP31 next year even though the conference will take place in the Turkish coastal city of Antalya. 

              The 24 countries signed a joint declaration supporting calls to develop a roadmap for the shift away from fossil fuels and setting out the conditions for a just and equitable transition.

              Those include consideration of national circumstances and the need to support workers and vulnerable communities, as well as the importance of financial and technological support and of promoting diversified economies that reduce reliance on fossil fuel revenues. 

                Alex Rafalowicz, director of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, described the declaration as “historic”. That’s because for the first time a fossil-fuel producing country like Australia “recognises that production, licensing, subsidising and consumption [of fossil fuels] are matters of international concern”, he added.

                Matthew Webb, associate director for Global Clean Power Diplomacy at think-tank E3G, said the coalition demonstrates “the growing and unprecedented level of support at COP30 to deliver a process for a roadmap to the just transition away from fossil fuels”. 

                With Australia now on board, there is a clear path for such a roadmap to be landed in Belem and taken forward into COP31, he added. Current draft texts do not refer to a fossil fuel transition roadmap, to the chagrin of some including the European Union, as well as Latin American and Pacific island states. 

                “Securing our survival”

                Tuvalu’s climate minister Maina Talia expressed disappointment over the lack of a “survival map” for quitting fossil fuels at COP30, as his country faces an existential threat from rising sea levels. 

                He added that “after 30 years, this process is still failing us, so we will not wait” and instead work on a different process “to secure our survival”. 

                Johanna Gusman, senior attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law, described Colombia’s 2026 conference as “a step towards good-faith international cooperation to actually tackle the climate crisis”.

                “We need a time-bound plan to curb [fossil fuel] production and use, end new licensing and subsidies, and mobilise finance for developing countries,” she added in a statement.

                The post Colombia seeks to speed up a “just” fossil fuel phase-out with first global conference appeared first on Climate Home News.

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