Until recently, the Brazilian team running the COP30 UN climate summit next month had stated strongly that they had no plan to produce a negotiated cover decision at the end of the talks – but that position may be starting to shift as some governments are now said to be seeking one.

COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago told Climate Home News late Wednesday after the pre-COP meeting in Brasilia that he was listening to those requests.

“As the presidency, if I feel that the countries are willing to analyse the possibility of a cover decision, of course I will take it into consideration. Because I truly want COP30 to be a country-led COP,” he said in an interview.

A cover decision is a text agreed by governments that is not tied to any specific agenda item and spans various issues that countries want to address. From COP25 to COP27, cover decisions offered political guidance on climate action and put topics that were crucial to some delegations – but not covered by the formal agenda – on the table for future discussions.

At COP26, for example, a cover decision on the Glasgow Climate Pact mentioned fossil fuels for the first time, calling for efforts towards the phase down of unabated coal power. At COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, the cover decision marked the launch of both the Just Transition Work Programme and the Loss and Damage Fund, from then on thrusting them decisively into the negotiations. 

In July, Corrêa do Lago told Climate Home that he personally did not like the idea of ​​a cover decision because he preferred “a more constructive, transparent and open diplomacy”. He has not changed his view on how he wants to see business done at COP30.

After a day of intense consultations with countries following the pre-COP meeting in Brasilia on Monday and Tuesday, the veteran Brazilian diplomat reiterated that he is not keen on a cover decision because it tends to “create a certain mystery” and “suddenly appears” in the midst of difficult negotiations.

“The other problem is that cover decisions have statistically proven to have no subsequent follow-up,” Correa do Lago added, arguing that “most countries felt a little abused by the cover decisions”.

‘Several countries’ want a cover decision

However, the game-changer this time around could lie in how such a document is landed and what it represents.

“The current situation is different,” said the incoming COP president. “Several countries are openly calling for a cover decision,” he explained. He emphasised that he had even received such a request in the bilateral meetings he held on Wednesday with some countries, without specifying which.

Those who have indicated they would support a cover decision in closed-door meetings include both developing and developed countries, as a way to give prominence to issues that are critical to their positions and interests, or could be complicated to address under set agenda items.

For Corrêa do Lago, if the COP30 conference begins with a cover decision already in mind, it could avoid the last-minute scramble and element of surprise that has occurred in the past, and instead “constitute a true element of negotiation”.

Vehicle for a ‘race to the top’

Some civil society organisations that follow the COP process have also called for COP30 to conclude with an ambitious cover decision.

Andreas Sieber, associate director of global policy and campaigns at 350.org, argues that a cover decision would be the most credible way to confront the gap in climate action head-on.

“A cover decision is no magic bullet to solve negotiation challenges, but it offers the best-placed procedural vehicle to balance different elements of the ambition package, allowing a race to the top instead of zero-sum trade-offs,” he wrote in an op-ed for Climate Home.

Comment: Why COP30 needs a cover decision to succeed

Over the past month, the possibility has also been raised that such a document could be presented as a so-called “omnibus decision” rather than a cover decision. 

It is unclear what the difference would be, as the UN climate talks have never produced an omnibus decision – but the suggestion is that an omnibus decision would amalgamate key elements of COP30, including those that do not have a clear place in the talks.

Either way, issues of relevance to multilateral climate policy that are tricky to resolve or need strong political backing to drive them forward outside the talks could find a home in such a decision.

Home for finance goals and NDC gap?

Natalie Unterstell, president of the Brazilian Talanoa Institute, explained that a cover decision could be an option for formally incorporating a new climate finance target for adaptation which the poorest countries are pushing for.

Sieber added that this could be the space for countries to identify steps forward for the Baku to Belém Roadmap to $1.3 Trillion on boosting climate finance in the next 10 years, so that it does not end up as little more than an informational report.

Countries trail COP30 clash over global response to shortfall in national climate plans

Others have suggested a COP30 cover decision could be the place where countries set out how they plan to bridge the expected large gap in planned emissions reductions and the cuts needed to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as they pledged to aim for in the Paris Agreement.

Even with the growing possibility of having a cover or an omnibus decision in Belém, Corrêa do Lago said he would prefer the COP to proceed as normal – with the approval of the agenda at the start, negotiations on the agreed items, and then “to make decisions” on that basis. 

However, he warned that even approving the agenda “could be a challenge because several countries are requesting new agenda items that we know would be very difficult to reach consensus on”.

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