As ministers from around the world arrive in Belém for the start of the second week of negotiations at COP30, the Associated Press says that, “adding to the pressure, late Sunday the Brazilian presidency of the talks issued a five-page summary on how to proceed with sticky issues of telling nations to do more in their new emissions cutting plans, how trade disputes and barriers involving climate are handled and the need for financial aid to poor nations”. The newswire adds: “It set out a buffet of options for negotiators to choose from or tweak in the contentious issues that were brought up by some nations even though they weren’t part of the original agenda or the COP30 presidency’s plans. They include options of creating new detailed ‘roadmaps’ to get from a lofty goal to something done. It’s what’s already being used to solidify last year’s $300bn annual goal for rich nations to provide climate financial aid to poor ones.” [Carbon Brief’s Simon Evans has posted a summary of the presidency note on Bluesky.]

Elsewhere, Brazil’s O Globo says “pressure for adaptation and clashes over funding will raise tensions in the ‘political’ week of COP30”, adding that “without the US at the table, resistance to assuming the costs of climate change [is coming] mainly from the European Union, but also from countries like China and Saudi Arabia”. India’s Down to Earth says there has been “no breakthrough at COP30 at the end of week one as divisions deepen over finance and trade”. Bloomberg has an article headlined: “China climate advisers warn trade barriers hinder emission goals.” Eco-Business says Indonesia has been “lampooned for platforming fossil fuel lobbyists at COP30”. Climate Home News in its latest daily summary of the talks says: “As COP30 reached halftime with most key issues still to play for, UN climate chief Simon Stiell told countries to listen to each other’s priorities and compromise to secure a final deal that ‘preserves’ the Paris Agreement. ‘I urge you to give a little so that you may get a lot,’ he said during a stocktaking plenary on Saturday evening.”

Much of the global media coverage of COP30 over the weekend has focused on Saturday’s protest march through Belém on Saturday. BBC News says: “It is the first time since 2021 that protesters have been allowed to demonstrate outside the UN climate talks. The last three took place in countries that do not permit public protest.” The outlet adds: “Marching to the beat of pounding sound systems, thousands of climate protesters have been bringing their message to the gates of the COP30 climate talks in Brazil. Chanting and singing ‘free the Amazon’, demonstrators in host city Belém have been carrying three giant coffins reading Oil, Coal and Gas flanked by two grim reapers. Indigenous groups displayed signs reading ‘the answer is us’ as an inflatable elephant and anaconda weaved through the crowd under the hot sun.”

Agence France-Presse says “tens of thousands” people marched, with the Guardian highlighting that the “joyous and defiant demonstration was the first major protest outside the annual climate talks since COP26 four years ago in Glasgow”. (Relatedly, BBC News says that “thousands of people have taken to the streets of Glasgow to protest against climate change”.) Reuters adds on the march through Belém: “On the streets Indigenous people, young activists and civil society groups came together singing, playing musical instruments and waving banners in midday temperatures near 30C.”

MORE ON COP30

• DeSmog reports that “top American oil and gas producers are using trade groups to gain access to this year’s COP30 climate summit in the absence of an official US delegation”.
• The climate-sceptic Daily Mail has published an error-strewn article attacking the UK government for sending a delegation of officials to COP30. It falsely claims that the “world’s biggest polluters – the US, China, and India – all stayed at home and did not attend”. Only the US government has not attended.

There is continuing coverage of the growing tensions between Australia and Turkey over who gets to host next year’s COP31, with neither country willing to back down. Agence France-Presse reports that Australia has today “rejected” Turkey’s offer to co-host the summit, which “Canberra is pushing to take place in the city of Adelaide”. It quotes Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese saying: “No, we won’t be co-hosting…That’s not an option and people are aware that it is not an option, which is why it has been ruled out.” Reuters says the “attention-sapping impasse…must be overcome at this year’s COP30 meeting currently taking place in Belém”. The newswire adds: “UN rules require unanimity among the 28-strong group of countries whose turn it is to host COP31. If neither Australia nor Turkey compromises, hosting duties would default to Bonn in Germany, which houses the UN’s climate headquarters. German officials have said they do not want to host.”

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Australian climate minister Chris Bowen “had told cabinet colleagues he was offering Turkey some involvement in the conference in exchange for withdrawing its bid to host”. The newspaper adds: “Australia could offer to cede so-called pre-COP talks, or the meeting of world leaders that normally occurs during the first week of the talks, but which this year was held days before the talks began.” The Guardian’s Adam Morton has a feature about the “the tug-of-war over hosting COP31”.

China’s power generation increased by 7.9% year-on-year in October, the largest jump since February 2024, as a heatwave “swamped the southern part of the country”, Bloomberg reports, citing data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics. The outlet says that “thermal power output increased 7.3%, while wind generation [recorded by the agency] fell 12% and utility-scale solar plants saw just a 5.9% rise, the smallest since May 2023”, making it “difficult for the country to chart a reduction in greenhouse gases this year”. The average temperatures in Shanghai last month were 2C higher than in the same month last year, according to the outlet.

Meanwhile, in an interview with the Paper, Li Gao, head of China’s COP30 delegation, urges developed countries to “actively take the lead in making substantial emission reductions” and provide “funding, technology and capacity building” for addressing climate change. Li also tells the Chinese newspaper Southern Weekly that each country starts from a “different baseline” and that addressing climate change must take factors including “economy, politics, society, the environment and people’s livelihoods” into account. At an event at the China pavilion in Belém, UN climate chief Simon Stiell “said green growth is a new driving force for development and investment cooperation under [China’s] green Silk Road framework”, reports the Communist party-affiliated People’s Daily.

MORE ON CHINA

• China has published its new 2025 “energy transition report” at COP30, reports People’s Daily. [Carbon Brief has covered its 2024 and 2023 reports.]
• China is stepping up as a “leader in the fight against global warming”, playing a “more subtle role behind the scenes in the negotiations by filling a void left by the US”, says Reuters.
• The South China Morning Post publishes an editorial under the headline: “As the US sits out COP30, China and others must pick up the slack.”
• A “GT Voice” comment piece by the state-supporting newspaper Global Times says that the world must build a “more open and efficient business environment” to meet “rising electricity demand while advancing decarboni[s]ation”.
• The Observer: “China races ahead on renewables amid green-tech boom.”
• Bloomberg: “China ramps up green hydrogen with support from new five-year plan.”

BBC News reports that authorities in Iran have “sprayed clouds with chemicals to induce rain, in an attempt to combat the country’s worst drought in decades”. The outlet adds: “Known as cloud-seeding, the process was conducted over the Urmia lake basin on Saturday, Iran’s official news agency Irna reported…Rainfall is at record lows and reservoirs are nearly empty. Last week president Masoud Pezeshkian warned that if there is not enough rainfall soon, Tehran’s water supply could be rationed and people may be evacuated from the capital. Cloud seeding involves injecting chemical salts including silver or potassium iodide into clouds via aircraft or through generators on the ground. Water vapour can then condense more easily and turn into rain…Iran’s meteorological organisation said rainfall had decreased by about 89% this year compared with the long-term average, Irna reported. ‘We are currently experiencing the driest autumn the country has experienced in 50 years,’ it added.” The Guardian has an article headlined: “Climate crisis or a warning from God? Iranians desperate for answers as water dries up.”

The Financial Times reports that the EU is “preparing to reject a demand from India to be exempted from its carbon border tax, a move that will complicate efforts to seal a trade deal between the two by the end of the year”. The newspaper continues: “Delhi has suggested it levy its own export fee on products that would be liable for the carbon charge, such as steel, aluminium and fertilisers, rather than be subject to the EU import duty which is set according to how much carbon is emitted during their manufacture…Four EU officials said the Indian idea, under which India would charge exporters based on value not carbon content, would not incentivise manufacturers to cut greenhouse gas emissions. They also fear setting a precedent because the US and other trading partners are also pushing for exemptions.”

There is extensive coverage across the UK media of the damage caused by severe flooding in parts of Wales and England as a result of Storm Claudia. The Press Association says that “firefighters are being pushed to their limits”. It quotes Steve Wright, Fire Brigades Union general secretary, saying: “Firefighters in Wales and England have been working tirelessly through the night and into today to deal with severe flooding and protect communities affected by Storm Claudia. The scale of the response in Monmouth [Wales] and elsewhere shows once again just how vital our service is when disasters hit. But it is also clear that services are under huge strain.” Reuters says the same storm system has also “killed three people and injured dozens” in Portugal. (See comment below.)

MORE ON EXTREME WEATHER

• The Associated Press reports that “hundreds of thousands of Filipinos gathered [on] Sunday in the capital Manila in the largest rally so far to demand accountability for a flood-control corruption scandal”.
• The Guardian: “Scrutiny grows over Los Angeles fire origins after bombshell report: ‘Our Pearl Harbor moment’.”

As COP30 reaches its half-way point, the Guardian has published an editorial highlighting that, as ever at these climate conferences, it’s all about money: “The absence of Donald Trump – or anyone from his administration – may actually help. At the negotiations, the developing nations’ G77 group plus China have pushed a ‘just transition mechanism’ to formalise climate cooperation, transfer green tech and channel support into debt-free finance. They are backed by Brazil, South Africa and India. Developed nations argue that this risks a delay in reaching climate goals…Richer nations spend billions on holders of their government bonds, but cry poverty when it comes to coughing up for the climate emergency they largely created. COP30 will either see the global north accept that it can – and must – pay its fair share, or watch wealthy nations keep wringing their hands as the planet burns.”

Separately, the Guardian’s Damian Carrington has a lengthy feature on Saudi Arabia, which he describes as the “biggest blocker of climate action”. Looking back over the past three decades, Carrington says, “armed with an effective veto, Saudi Arabia has held back climate negotiations…by becoming master of the arcane and complicated procedural rules that govern the [COP] process”. 

Writing in the Guardian, columnist John Harris highlights how the “news is once again filling up with a familiar story: overflowing rivers, inundated streets and overwhelmed infrastructure”. Responding to the damage caused by Storm Claudia, he writes: “Claudia and her effects made it into the national headlines – but mostly, local and regional floods now seem too mundane to attract that kind of attention. Eleven days ago, Cumbria saw submerged roads, blocked drains and over 250 flood-related problems reported to the relevant councils. Railway lines in Cornwall were submerged; in Carmarthen, in west Wales, there were reports of the worst floods in living memory. But beyond the areas affected, who heard about these stories? Such comparatively small events, it seems, are now only to be expected.”

Harris speaks to Dr Carola Koenig at Brunel University’s Centre for Flood Risk and Resilience, who tells him: “Protection becomes so expensive that it’s not worth it, so you have to move communities to safer, higher ground.” Harris ponders on the response to such a statement: “Can anyone imagine such a huge change happening amid a political system as replete with cynicism and climate denial as ours? What about the levels of public spending it would entail? Right now, thinking about this aspect of the future surely prompts another question, about flood defence, protection and resilience: why is there such a huge political silence about these likelihoods, and how all of us might start to prepare for them?”

MORE UK COMMENT

• The Sunday Times gives space to climate-sceptic columnist Dominic Lawson to say that, “if Reform UK wins power in 2029, it will not tolerate royal eco-babble” from King Charles and Prince William.
• Two other right-leaning newspapers – the Daily Telegraph and Daily Express – also platform climate sceptics.

There continues to be a wide range of comment in the Australian media reacting to the opposition Coalition parties’ rejection of net-zero targets. In the Sydney Morning Herald, Sean Kelly writes: “Obviously, the Coalition division over climate – and the muddy, meaningless position the opposition formally agreed on Sunday – is mostly a problem for the Coalition. Its policy denies reality, all but denies the threat of climate change, bypasses economics and ignores the desires of both the energy sector and the voters the Coalition needs to win over at elections…[but] for all the attention the Coalition is (justifiably) getting right now, what matters most over the next few years is what Labor does. That’s true about the climate itself – because Labor is in power. And it’s true on the politics, as well.”

In the Guardian, Zoe Daniel writes: “The Coalition is spinning a lie that climate action is economically bad. How are they getting away with it?” Also in the Guardian, Nick Evershed argues that “net-zero is cheaper for Australia than not doing more”, while Adam Morton factchecks “five Coalition claims about net-zero, from power prices to the $9tn cost”. An analysis by Patricia Karvelas for ABC News is headlined: “[Liberal party leader] Sussan Ley scrabbling to retain leadership after net-zero capitulation puts one advantage at risk.”

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Leo Hickman, with contributions from Henry Zhang and Wanyuan Song. It was edited by Simon Evans.