FORMER PRESIDENT MARY Robinson said that she is “more positive” about COP30 after reassessing the agreement, despite the disappointment over the lack of a formal fossil fuel phase-out.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Robinson said her first reaction to the text was frustration that countries failed to build on previous COP summits by explicitly committing to phase out, or even formally transition away from, fossil fuels.

“I was disappointed,” Robinson said.

“But actually, I spent the weekend looking again and again at what was agreed, and I am more positive now.”

Robinson said key elements announced by Brazil, which continues to hold the COP presidency until next November, gave her renewed confidence that the global process was still moving in the right direction.

“There was the announcement of the informal roadmaps by the presidency of Brazil,” she said.

“And as it happens, there will be the first summit on trying to end fossil fuels in Colombia… I think that’s going to create an added momentum.”

While she acknowledged deep divisions between countries seeking to protect fossil fuel production and those demanding faster transition, Robinson said the informal measures emerging around the official text were “more robust” than they first appeared.

A Saudi Arabian delegatepictured speaking at the COP30 conference. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

“There was a very robust discussion,” Robinson said. “The momentum is there.”

‘We’re moving faster and faster’

Robinson argued that although the COP deal did not include the fossil fuel phase-out language pushed by more than 80 countries, the wider global direction of travel is unmistakeable.

“There’s huge investment going into clean energy,” she said.

“China is cheapening all the time the access to clean energy. Clean energy will become ever cheaper, ever more reliable, and markets will increasingly refuse to accept fossil fuel.”

She also highlighted several “positives” she said had been overshadowed by the fossil-fuel dispute: the launch of a global implementation accelerator; the strengthening of the COP action agenda; a “very good” Gender Action Plan; and an improved just transition mechanism.

The Global Implementation Accelerator is a new COP30 plan to help countries actually carry out their climate promises faster, from cutting emissions to adapting to climate impacts, so the world has a better chance of keeping the average global temperature change below 1.5°C.

The Gender Action Plan is a UN framework to integrate gender equality and women’s empowerment across all climate policies and actions in recognition of the fact that climate change impacts men and women differently, and that women and children disproportionately affected.

“In many ways, the COPs have always been a bit messy,” Robinson said.

Robinson acknowledged, however, that the final agreement was ultimately shaped by the need to prevent the COP system itself collapsing.

File photo. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

“It certainly was a deal to protect the process,” she said.

“And that is important, because it depends on the Paris Agreement, which has achieved a lot.”

The threat of climate change, she warned, is now “more serious than it has ever been”, with the world approaching critical tipping points for global coral reefs and the Amazon rainforest.

“We didn’t get what we would have liked,” Robinson said.

“But we have a robust informal process, more than 80 countries behind it, and a summit that will go further.”

Government criticism

Her comments come after the government expressed “profound concerns” over the COP30 outcome, arguing it “falls short of meaningful ambition” on cutting global emissions.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin was among a number of world leaders to attend the summit. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Climate Minister Darragh O’Brien said the failure to include a credible roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels was a “significant” shortcoming, though Ireland ultimately supported the deal to protect the wider COP process.

Robinson, however, said she remains encouraged.

“I’m kind of reassured by everything I read over the weekend,” she said.

“There’s more robustness in it than I thought there was.

“I can work with that.”

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