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This newsletter was written by our partners at Climate Emergency Unit

COP30 has wrapped up in Belém, Brazil, and the final outcome – called the ‘Belém Political Package’ – is a hard-fought agreement with some seeds of hope for an equitable Just Transition.

Here’s our final update and analysis on the outcome of this conference. Check out our previous coverage here.

While most COPs end in deep disappointment and abject failure, this one actually had some significant bright spots, especially for the questions of fairness and global cooperation which are central to the Fair Shares Platform.

As always, we need to keep the heat on the Carney government to be a fair, ambitious leader on the world stage. Our lives hang in the balance.

The big win: A Just Transition Mechanism

 

The breakthrough victory of COP30 for the Global South and for all of us was the consensus to develop a Just Transition Mechanism. This decision is the culmination of decades of strong campaigning by social movements, civil society organizations and Global South governments, and represents a historic milestone for these talks.

At this COP, developing countries led by a bloc called the G77 and China (a group of 134 countries) came united and organized in their call for a JTM. In the first week of the conference, developed countries including Canada opposed their proposal. But the talks were bolstered by strong leadership from the Brazilian COP presidency and, eventually, developed countries softened their position.

We should be glad that Canada, along with the rest of the G7, stepped back to allow this agreement to take place. Equally so, the tireless work of civil society organizations and campaigns like our Fair Shares work were critical to the success of this agreement.

Given that a global Just Transition is an unbelievably complex, multi-layered challenge, this Mechanism was a long time coming. This JTM’s purpose will be to “enhance international cooperation, technical assistance, capacity-building and knowledge sharing, and enable equitable, inclusive just transitions”. In other words, it will be the “house” for a globally-managed, cooperative energy transition worldwide.

There is still a lot of potential for the JTM to be weakened or undermined, but its creation is a step forward to be celebrated.

The big loss: No mention of fossil fuels

Despite support from the majority of countries as well as decades of strong campaigning by social movements around the world, COP30 failed to produce a meaningful step forward on the phaseout of fossil fuels. Many called it an “empty deal”.

More specifically, the final decision didn’t even include any mention of fossil fuels! For the world’s largest climate conference, this is a stunning failure.

The world’s largest polluters are to blame for this. In addition to high emitters like the US and wealthy countries like the G7, the blame also rests heavily upon Saudi Arabia – one of the world’s largest producers of fossil fuels.

Nikki Reisch of the Centre for International Law sums it up best:

“This is an empty deal. COP30 provides a stark reminder that the answers to the climate crisis do not lie inside the climate talks – they lie with the people and movements leading the way toward a just, equitable, fossil-free future. The science is settled and the law is clear: we must keep fossil fuels in the ground and make polluters pay. While the countries most responsible for pushing the planet to the brink point fingers, dig in their heels, and tighten their purse strings, the world burns.”

A positive step forward amidst the bleak outcome at COP was that over 80 countries supported action on a fossil fuel phaseout. These committed parties started an initiative to move forward on a fossil fuel phaseout outside the UN Climate Convention: A new process called the International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels. The first conference will be held next April in Colombia, led by the governments of Colombia and the Netherlands.

Big takeaways from this COP

A few major themes define COP30 and the era that will follow. One of them is very clear: Fair Shares work is more important than ever. COP30 highlighted the stark gap between the Global North and South. This gap is growing, and as the world hurtles towards a scorching future, the debt of the Global North will be seen as a profound historical failure.

We must continue to focus on finance, trade and debt as serious barriers to climate action, and it’s our job to shine a light on the Canadian government’s role in blocking a global Just Transition.

And we must continue to uphold the principles of global cooperation and multilateralism that are the key to a just and sustainable future. We saw in this COP that the work of civil society like us is essential to the big wins. It’s sometimes slow and tireless work, but it’s more important than ever.

 

In sum, COP30 was the disappointment we expected, but with the very strong silver lining of a historic agreement on Just Transition. In the words of Brazilian president Lula da Silva, “Science prevailed, multilateralism won.”

Take action on the fight of our lives

The Fair Shares campaign is an uphill climb, but if we stay together, we will win. Here are some ways to take action today:

• Forward the Fair Shares Platform to a friend: Canadians who care about the climate crisis must stay up to date on how Canada shows up in the international community. It’s part of tackling the crisis. Please spread the word about the Fair Shares Platform, and help us build a strong, united civil society voice around these issues.

• Join us at the closing webinar of the Climate Emergency Unit: One of the core partners of the Fair Shares Project is the Climate Emergency Unit (CEU). The CEU is closing down at the end of this year, and we’d love to share our lessons and reflections with you. We’re hosting a webinar on December 3rd at 4pm PT. Plus, a musical guest! Register for the webinar here.