COP30: Outdated statuses mask deep-rooted issues as negotiations continue

As the world converges in Brazil for COP30, Islamic Relief’s Senior Policy Advisor on Poverty Reduction, Jamie Williams, explains how the labels of ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries are affecting negotiations.

So far this has been a quiet COP. The idea is for countries to meet and agree how to put their previous decisions into practice. And they are getting on with doing just that.

The usual divisions are apparent between the ‘developed’ countries, responsible for most of the emissions that have led to the crisis and for paying for its repair, and the ‘developing’ countries, least responsible for and most effected by climate breakdown.

There is a problem that some ‘developing’ countries have become among the world’s richest in the 33 years since the designation of ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ was made, are still benefitting from their historical status, and getting grants and loans which were originally meant for poor countries. They don’t want that to change so are dominating the debate, claiming to speak for the world’s most marginalised and vulnerable.

These countries are supported by a huge delegation of lobbyists from coal, oil, gas and plastics companies, which also wants things to remain as the same. These vested interests have been paying for misinformation and confusion over the years. This echoes in the ears of the leaders of wealthy countries, who the COP30 chief says, have ‘lost enthusiasm for tackling the climate crisis’, and who are using the newly rich countries’ inaction to renege on their previous commitments to pay up.

These conflicts play out again and again in the negotiation rooms. It is COP business as usual.

Hoping for more noise to disrupt the quiet

There has been progress on Islamic Relief’s call for a decision on National Adaptation Plans and for local leadership of adaptation action, and the debates on how to describe and measure progress will move into the second week.

Amid the quiet, some noise has come from 1 or 2 countries who insist that at last the root cause of climate destruction is named, and that finally a call for the phasing out of fossil fuels is made. As activists say, ‘we will exterminate ourselves’ if we keep on extracting fossil fuels. As former US vice president Al Gore said, it is ‘literally insane’ that we are letting global heating happen.

The Indigenous people of Amazonia are also insisting their voices be heard, having twice broken through security to protest that Brazil’s government is exploiting and developing their land and rivers without any consultation or regard for their ancestral rights. After the previous 3 COPs banned demonstrations, the Indigenous peoples’ protests here are reflecting concerns of communities on the front line of the climate crisis in the glare of media attention, to be relayed back to civil society in the Global North.

We can hope for more noise, and more constructive action this week.

Islamic Relief is supporting communities to adapt to climate breakdown, and advocating for a just transition to a low-carbon economy and an international system where communities are in charge of the decisions that affect their lives and livelihoods.

Please help us continue this vital work. Donate today.

Photo by IISD/ENB Mike Muzurakis