The coalition asked negotiators to strengthen language on the transition to fossil fuels in the draft text, which is scheduled for approval on Wednesday. Their goal: accelerate action and keep global warming within 1.5°C.
Then there was silence. Ministers listened as COP30 youth champion Marcele Oliveira stepped forward, carrying the urgency of an entire generation.
“Fossil fuels are destroying dreams,” he warned, calling the move away from them “the most important climate justice mobilization of this generation.”
COP30 Youth Climate Champion Marcele Oliveira speaks at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Belém, Brazil.
Protecting the future
talking to UN NewsMs Oliveira highlighted that children and young people must be at the center of every COP30 debate.
“We had a decision from the International Court of Justice that states that countries’ inaction on climate change constitutes an environmental crime. Therefore, we must pressure countries to make better climate decisions, and this is also a priority,” he told us.
“Of course, we need to move away from fossil fuels, invest in protecting forests and protecting those who protect them. And of course, for young people, recognition of collective action at the local level, led by young people, is very important.”
Guterres: a ‘decisive battle’
Later that day, UN Secretary-General António Guterres met with youth delegates and offered an apology, full of gratitude. Past generations, he stated, failed to contain the climate crisis. Scientific projections confirm that temperatures will exceed the 1.5°C threshold.
Now, he urged young people to support him in what he called the “decisive battle” to ensure this excess is as brief as possible.
The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, he emphasized, is essential and requires confronting powerful pressure groups that “put profits above the well-being of the international community and the planet.” Pressure from young people, he said, is indispensable at COP30.
‘We just want to be kids!’
João Victor da Silva, 16, from Brazil, told the UN chief: “We don’t want to be activists, we just want to be children and adolescents, but unfortunately we adults are not making the right decisions.”
From Aruba, Nigel Maduro shared a painful truth: the beaches where he learned to swim are disappearing. The negotiations, he warned, are moving slowly, perhaps too slowly for his island nation, which faces rising temperatures and seas.
Young people in several countries echoed the same call: act now to ensure a livable future.
The Secretary-General agreed that greater participation of young people, especially from indigenous communities, would lead to better results. He acknowledged calls for more direct and less bureaucratic financing for indigenous peoples and committed to improving conditions to make this possible.
Children make their voices heard at the UN Climate conference in Belém, Brazil.
‘Protests are a defining feature of COP30’
The indigenous leader Txai Suruí described the youth meeting as one of the most hopeful moments of COP30. But he warned that the Amazon is dangerously close to a tipping point that could push the forest toward desertification.
“The protests are a distinctive feature of this COP, because (although) some countries may not like them, Brazil is a democratic country and the protests also serve to ensure that these leaders really make pro-life decisions.”
Ms. Txai noted that the business lobby remains larger than all delegations combined – and certainly larger than indigenous representation – creating an imbalance of voices. However, he sees increasing recognition of indigenous communities as guardians of nature.
A ‘just transition’
Meanwhile, for Oliveira, the transition away from fossil fuels must be fair: an approach that “listens, welcomes and listens to the territories.” He said measures such as the demarcation of indigenous lands are essential to ensure that this change does not further harm already affected populations.
UN Newsis reporting from Belém, giving you front-row coverage of everything happening at COP30.