COP30 got off to ‘good start’, says Swiss climate envoy

Swiss climate envoy Felix Wertli is leading the Swiss delegation in Belém, Brazil, Keystone-SDA

Swiss climate envoy Felix Wertli says the United Nations climate conference in Belém, Brazil, "got off to a good start". After one week, major issues have not yet been resolved, but the negotiations began well, he said.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

After reaching a relatively quick agreement on the COP30 negotiating agenda last week, the conference participants are now in the middle of discussions between groups of states, some lasting hours.

Environment ministers are expected to take part in political negotiations in the second week which began on Monday. The outcome of COP30 is still open: “It is currently difficult to say whether we will end up with a package that is good,” said Wertli from Belém in Brazil’s Amazon region.

Science called into question

COP30 began on November 10 and is scheduled to run until November 21. Wertli says the biggest challenge remains how to implement the Paris Agreement.

“The climate targets submitted by the countries under the Paris Agreement are not enough to close the gap to the 1.5°C warming target,” says Wertli.

A roadmap proposed by the COP30 presidency, which would point the way to a greater reduction in emissions, is being blocked by Arab countries. They fear that the phase-out of fossil fuels could happen too quickly.

Negotiations on the financing of climate protection measures and adaptation to climate change are also a challenge.

Scientific statements on climate change are also increasingly being called into question. “Switzerland’s position is that the negotiations must be based on the latest knowledge on climate change,” says Wertli.

Switzerland is leading a negotiating group in Belém. It also includes South Korea, Mexico, Georgia, Liechtenstein and Monaco. As the lead negotiator for this group, Switzerland carries particular weight.

Ten officials from the Swiss federal government, four representatives of civil society, one representative of the scientific community and one youth delegate make up the Swiss delegation. Environment Minister Albert Rösti is travelling to Brazil next week.

Swiss climate target

Under the Paris Agreement, almost all countries committed ten years ago to limiting global warming to well below 2°C, but preferably to 1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial age. To this end, they must strengthen their national climate targets every five years.

At COP30, Switzerland is campaigning for all countries to submit ambitious new reduction targets, said Wertli a week ago. Switzerland submitted its latest targets in January.

By 2035, it should reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 65% compared to 1990 levels, and by 59% on average between 2031 and 2035. The targets are to be achieved primarily through domestic measures.

Translated from German by DeepL/sb

How we work

We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.  

Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.

If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at [e-mail]