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Fire disrupted United Nations climate talks in Brazil on Thursday, forcing evacuations of several buildings with just two scheduled days left and negotiators yet to announce any major agreements. Officials said no one was hurt.
The fire was reported in an area of pavilions where sideline events are held during the annual talks, known this year as COP30.
Organizers soon announced that the fire was under control, but fire officials ordered the entire site evacuated for safety checks and it wasn’t clear when conference business would resume.
Viliami Vainga Tone, with the Tonga delegation, had just come out of a high-level ministerial meeting when dozens of people came thundering past him shouting about the fire. He was among people pushed out of the venue by Brazilian and UN security forces.
Tone called time the most precious resource at COP and said he was disappointed it’s even shorter due to the fire.
“We have to keep up our optimism. There is always tomorrow, if not the remainder of today. But at least we have a full day tomorrow,” he told The Associated Press.
‘Down to the wire’
A few hours before the fire, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged countries to compromise and “show willingness and flexibility to deliver results,” even if they fall short of the strongest measures some nations want.
“We are down to the wire and the world is watching Belem,” Guterres said, asking negotiators to engage in good faith in the last two scheduled days of talks, which already missed a self-imposed deadline Wednesday for progress on a few key issues.
CBC’s Susan Ormiston discusses what happened when protesters reportedly armed with batons forced their way inside the COP30 venue in Brazil.
The conference frequently runs longer than its scheduled two weeks.
On contentious issues involving more detailed plans to phase out fossil fuels, Guterres said he was “perfectly convinced” that compromise was possible and dismissed the idea that not adopting the strongest measures would be a failure.
Guterres was more forceful in what he wanted rich countries to do for poor countries, especially those in need of tens of billions of dollars to adapt to the floods, droughts, storms and heat waves triggered by worsening climate change. He continued calls to triple adaptation finance from $40 billion US a year to $120 billion US a year.
Delivering overall financial aid — with an agreed goal of $300 billion US a year — is one of four interconnected issues that were initially excluded from the official agenda. The other three are:
- Whether countries should be told to toughen their new climate plans.
- Dealing with trade barriers over climate.
- Improving reporting on transparency and climate progress.
COP30 president Andre Correa do Lago had given negotiators a Wednesday deadline for some kind of package on those four issues, but no deal was in sight.
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