Frustration about slow progress at the United Nations Climate Conference boiled over last week, when on Tuesday, Indigenous activists pushed past security at the entrance of the main conference hall, called the Blue Zone, and briefly occupied the space. The action was meant to draw attention to the exclusivity that happens at the COPs. Danielle Falzon, a sociologist at Rutgers University, who researches the climate talks, says, “In the UNFCCC setting, success is measured by how long you stay in the room, how polished your presentation is, how fluent you are in bureaucratic English — and how well you can pretend that the world isn’t burning outside.”
Sônia Guajajara, Brazilian minister of the Indigenous peoples, stated in an interview that nearly 5,000 Indigenous people were participating in various events around the city, with about 900 granted official accreditation to participate in events inside the Blue Zone. Analysis finds 1,600 fossil fuel representatives at UN climate summit in Brazil, outnumbering almost every country delegation aside from Brazil. “There is no solution to avoid climate change without the participation of Indigenous people; they need to be here,” said Guajajara.
On Friday morning, dozens of Indigenous activists blocked the front of the COP30 summit venue, staging a sit-in that forced delegates to use a side entrance to resume their negotiations on tackling climate change. Security has increased checks, and lines to enter are getting longer.
Meanwhile, a parallel event, called the People’s Summit, was inaugurated on Wednesday at the Federal University of Para, after a flotilla of more than 5,000 people aboard around 200 vessels sailed together in the waters around Belem to arrive at the venue. The People’s Summit has been convening alongside the official COP since 1992, making space for frontline communities to raise voices together. You can read their manifesto here.
International activists are calling for a treaty to phase out fossil fuels and address the root cause of the climate crisis. “If we continue to extract hydrocarbons from the Earth, we will exterminate ourselves,” said Olivia Bissa, president of the Chapra Nation in the Peruvian Amazon.
Transparency International’s examination of the list of registered participants found that 54% of participants in national delegations either did not disclose the type of affiliation they have or selected a vague category such as “Guest” or “Other.” The UNFCCC still lacks a conflict of interest policy for attendees. This enables fossil fuel businesses to use the space to unduly influence negotiations, strike side deals, and spread climate disinformation.
On Thursday, Brazil launched the Belém Health Action Plan, a blueprint to help health ministries respond to the effects of climate breakdown. It also identifies children as a uniquely vulnerable group for the first time.
There has been much speculation about the Trump administration’s leaving the Paris Agreement and the absence of the US in this COP’s negotiations. The US Climate Action Network held a press conference on Thursday to make it known that frontline communities and climate justice organizations from the US have not retreated. Christiana Figueres, a Costa Rican diplomat who played an essential role in the Paris Agreement, commented, “What the US has done is a choice; it is a sad choice, but it does not stop the advance of all others who are on the [clean energy] track,” Figueres says. “All it has done is open up the space hugely for China, which is completely delighted that they don’t have any substantial competition.”
Indeed, China is leading the world in renewable energy. In 2022, China installed roughly as much solar capacity as the rest of the world combined, then doubled its additional solar capacity in 2023. On Tuesday, the Climate Action Network gave a Ray of the Day Award to the G77 + China negotiating bloc for calling for the establishment of a Just Transition Mechanism under the UNFCCC — a proposal that mirrors many of the core elements civil society and trade unions have been advancing through the Belém Action Mechanism (BAM):
- Integrating fairness and equity into all levels of implementation;
- Promoting coordination and knowledge-sharing across sectors and institutions;
- Supporting non-debt-creating finance for transitions;
- Strengthening social dialogue; and
- Ensuring that people, not profits, remain at the heart of climate action.
On Saturday, thousands took to the streets outside the conference for the People’s Summit March. The joyous and defiant demonstration was the first major protest outside the annual climate talks since COP26 four years ago in Glasgow, as the last three gatherings were held in petrostates headed by authoritarian governments with questionable human rights records and little tolerance for demonstrations — Egypt, Dubai, and Azerbaijan.
Negotiations around finance, especially for adaptation and loss and damage, will likely heat up in this second week. The absence of meaningful finance at COP30 has been striking. Richer nations have repeatedly shirked their responsibilities and are dragging their feet on new commitments, despite being the primary contributors to global warming emissions. Some are even resorting to creative accounting. Canada’s repackaging of the final portion of its existing commitments as “new” funding is especially disappointing. Relying on uncertain private sector funds or loans leaves lower-income nations exposed to further economic risks and debts, rather than delivering the climate justice they deserve.
The post Your Summary of Negotiations: Nov. 17 appeared first on Climate Generation.
Climate Change
Alabama Poised to Drastically Overhaul Utility Regulation. Will It Lower Electric Bills?
The Alabama Senate unanimously voted to expand the public service commission, and create a Secretary of Energy to address rising electricity prices. A bill in the House would go even further, requiring rate case hearings and limiting utility profits.
MONTGOMERY, Ala.—High electricity costs have been the talk of the session in the Alabama Legislature, and the state seems poised to totally revamp its utility regulatory process.
Alabama Poised to Drastically Overhaul Utility Regulation. Will It Lower Electric Bills?
China, Brazil, Italy and Belgium have joined a pledge, launched at COP28 two years ago, to triple global nuclear energy capacity between 2020 and 2050.
Ministers from these four countries announced their support at this week’s Nuclear Energy Summit in Paris, increasing the total number of backers to 38.
At the summit, Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing said China endorsed the pledge to help tackle climate change and strengthen energy security. “To deliver such ambitious goals we should uphold multilateralism, strengthen solidarity and cooperation and resist unilateralism and protectionism,” he said.
In the last 15 years, China has added more nuclear energy capacity than the rest of the world combined, mainly through large conventional reactors. The country is also planning to become a nuclear exporter, constructing its Hualong One reactor in Pakistan and Argentina.
Sama Bilbao y León, head of World Nuclear Association (WNA), said the new endorsements add “tremendous momentum” to the initiative.
Victor Ibarra, head of the nuclear energy programme at the climate think tank Clean Air Task Force (CATF), said that these endorsements reflect growing recognition for nuclear as a “reliable source of clean, firm power”.
He added that “geopolitical tensions and instability in oil and gas markets” highlight the risks of relying on “volatile fuel supplies”, motivating countries to seek a “more flexible, innovation-driven approach to the energy transition”.
In a report from last year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) heralded a “new era of growth” for nuclear power, as demand for clean electricity rises to power electric vehicles, data centres and artificial intelligence.
A 2026 WNA report projects the tripling goal is achievable if current planning targets hold. On the other hand, Jacopo Buongiorno, nuclear science and engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) told Climate Home News last August that meeting the target would need a supply chain scale-up of “epic” proportions.
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Nuclear emerging in Global South
As the construction of new reactors has stagnated in the US and Europe over the last decade, large emerging economies like China, India, the UAE and South Korea have taken the lead. Now, Brazil is also voicing support.
Brazil’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the country would develop nuclear power responsibly and with “elevated standards for safety, protection and non-proliferation”.
In an interview with Deutsche Welle last week, Brazil’s energy minister Alexandre Silveira said that Brazil’s “future is nuclear”. Silveira has proposed replacing fossil fuel power plants in the Amazon with small modular reactors (SMR), of which only two exist in the world: one in China and one in Russia.
Brazil’s foreign ministry said the country’s large uranium reserves offer it energy security. Uranium is the main fuel used in nuclear reactors, but it requires a refining process known as “enrichment” before it can be used to produce power.
Caio Victor Vieira from the Brazilian climate think tank Talanoa Institute, said nuclear expansion offers only “limited” economic benefit for Brazil, given that the country already sources almost 90% of its electricity from clean sources – mostly hydropower.
He said Brazil’s signing of the pledge “is better understood as a diplomatic and strategic move” to support nuclear globally. “If Brazil were to pursue additional nuclear capacity in the future, it would require a broader domestic policy debate,” he added.
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Europeans divided on nuclear
About half of the pledge’s signatories are European but the continent has long been divided on the issue of nuclear power. France – which derives two-thirds of its power supply from nuclear – has championed this technology, with Germany pulling in the opposite direction.
At the summit on Tuesday, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen weighed into this debate, calling Europe’s move away from “reliable, affordable” nuclear in the last 30 years a “strategic mistake” that “should change”.
She added that the oil and gas crisis in the Middle East – which has raised the cost of electricity in gas-reliant countries – “gives a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities” that come from phasing out nuclear capacity.
“Europe has been a pioneer in nuclear technology and could once again lead the world in it. Next-generation nuclear reactors could become a European high-tech high-value export”, she said.
She argued that nuclear and renewables should be used in combination, as renewable energy is cheap but intermittent and often best produced far from where it is needed so nuclear energy, storage and improved grids are needed for a reliable energy system.
Europe’s move away from nuclear was led by its biggest economy Germany. Following Von der Leyen’s comments, German environment minister Carsten Schneider said that subsidising new reactors would require “very large amounts of money that would then not be available elsewhere”.
“Clean, safe electricity from wind and solar energy is affordable, has long been a driver of the energy transition and does not produce radioactive waste,” Schneider said.
However, German chancellor Friedrich Merz has indicated he would not oppose classifying nuclear as a clean energy source. His centre-right party governs in coalition with Schneider’s centre-left party
Japan’s anti-nuclear stance has also softened. The country shut down all reactors after the 2011 Fukushima disaster but is now restarting some, though it faces resistance over waste storage.
In the United States, the Trump administration has continued Biden-era support for nuclear energy—pushing new SMRs while weakening safety oversight and exempting reactors from some environmental reviews.
The post China and Brazil join pledge to triple global nuclear energy capacity appeared first on Climate Home News.
China and Brazil join pledge to triple global nuclear energy capacity
Climate Change
Trump Claims Indian Investment Will Make Long-Standing Plans for Brownsville Refinery a Reality
Plans for an oil refinery in Brownsville, Texas, stalled after a permit fight. Now the developer has rebranded as America First Refining.
Trump claimed a “massive win” this week when he announced that the Indian private energy company Reliance Industries is investing in a proposed oil refinery in Brownsville, Texas.
Trump Claims Indian Investment Will Make Long-Standing Plans for Brownsville Refinery a Reality
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