Press Room

The UK government has announced official plans to end licensing in the North Sea

“The barricade that rich countries built against progress and justice in the COP30 process stands in stark contrast to the momentum building outside the climate talks. Countries and people from around the world loudly are demanding a fair and funded phaseout, and that is not going to stop."

"This is outrageous. We came here to secure a COP 30 package for justice and equity. The Presidency has presented a shamefully weak text that fails to mention fossil fuels, fails to deliver accountability towards rich countries’ finance obligations, and only makes vague promises on adaptation."

Today, Oil Change International will be convening a press conference at COP30 with energy and policy experts and climate activists to present the current state of play on the COP30 political package, and how decisions on the just transition, adaptation, fair public finance, and a fossil fuel phaseout roadmap need to be delivered together in order to achieve an equitable outcome to this year’s UN climate talks. 

With just hours remaining until the scheduled close of COP30, the pressure is mounting. Yesterday the summit entered a decisive phase, with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva joining the talks to advance the draft “Mutirão Decision” text in a bid to swing the package through.

"Pushing for failed private finance schemes in the final hours of the negotiations risks derailing the path to a breakthrough deal on a funded, fair, fast just transition away from fossil fuels that we desperately need.  Private investors seek profit, not justice."

A just transition means stopping fossil fuels, not being held back by them, and choosing a future powered by clean energy. In Africa, a just transition includes energy access for the millions of Africans currently without energy for driving local economies and domestic needs. It is time that world leaders put in the work and finance to ensure that Africa has a just transition to renewable energy instead of being locked into more fossil fuels.

Today, President Lula joins the UN climate talks, and the COP30 Presidency is determined to push through the Mutirão Decision by the end of the day in an unprecedented move to gavel through major decisions in one swoop mid-second week.

“The options for a fossil fuel roadmap in the current text are not worth the paper they’re written on - but today’s show of support from a growing group of countries for a concrete roadmap to equitably transition away from fossil fuels proves that momentum is shifting."

The second week of COP30 has opened with a show of political maneuvering, as ministers arrived in Belém to an agenda that is quickly being merged into two high-stakes packages. A new proposal presented by the COP30 Presidency this morning, the draft Mutirao Decision, summarizes outcomes on sticky issues raised by Parties that weren’t on the agenda, and on which consultations were held over the last week.