Belém — Tensions are rising at the Cop30 climate summit, where negotiators from vulnerable nations say powerful countries are weakening core commitments of the Paris agreement and resisting demands for meaningful climate finance.
Delegates from low-lying and drought-hit regions said that discussions on the 1.5 °C temperature limit have become increasingly hostile. "Some countries dismiss the IPCC and argue that science doesn’t matter. Sometimes it feels like we are arguing with robots."
They accused members of the Like-Minded Developing Countries group — including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, China, and India — of pushing back on 1.5 °C or claiming the target is already out of reach. “Where is their humanity?” the delegate asked. “Just because we do not have money does not mean we shouldn’t be heard.”
For countries already suffering severe climate impacts, adaptation is the most urgent priority. One negotiator from a drought-stricken region described adaptation as “the difference between putting food on the table and surviving on humanitarian aid”. They criticised developed countries for failing to scale up finance, despite agreeing in Baku last year to a $300bn climate-finance goal by 2035.
Developing countries want adaptation finance tripled from $40bn to $120bn, stressing that private investors will not fund essential but non-profitable projects such as water storage or crop diversification. “Only public finance can do that,” the negotiator said.
Talks on adaptation indicators — technical rules for monitoring adaptation projects — have also become contentious. More than 100 proposed indicators are on the table, some of which developing countries say are intrusive and infringe on national sovereignty. “They want to know our domestic food-security budgets. That is not acceptable,” one delegate said.
A major point of contention is Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement, which obliges developed countries to provide climate finance. Global South negotiators say the EU, UK, and other wealthy nations are resisting efforts to create a dedicated negotiation track, insisting on merging the issue into broader finance talks. “When everything is discussed together, rich countries focus only on what suits them,” said a senior negotiator.
Some warn that without serious progress on finance, the Paris agreement’s goals are in jeopardy. “Without a space to discuss Article 9.1, many are asking why we even come to Cop,” the negotiator said.