New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
COP30: Big stage, low expectations
12/11/2025
10 min read
Feature
Ten years since signing the Paris Agreement, there are lower expectations for any groundbreaking COP30 initiatives, as high-power discussions start this week at Belém, Brazil. New Energy World Features Editor Brian Davis reports.
Despite the presence of about 56,000 diplomats, including government representatives, business, NGOs and indigenous representatives, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer who flew in for a few days, there is a notable absence of big hitters/emitters at the UN climate talks. ‘No shows’ at the premier level include the US – which is due to pull out of the Paris Agreement again – India and China.
Indeed, some climate campaigners argue that the event, officially termed the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is simply a talking shop and is no longer fit for purpose, a place where oil-rich nations such as Russia and Saudi Arabia, and certain sectors of big business, attend to frustrate progress.
Although demand for renewables has grown significantly since the Paris Agreement in 2015, fossil fuels still meet the majority of demand, as revealed in the Energy Institute’s 2025 Statistical Review of World Energy. What’s more, renewables are currently supplementing (additional to) rather than replacing fossil fuels. Nevertheless, investment in clean technologies has climbed twice as fast of that in fossil fuels. And countries representing three quarters of global GDP say they are aiming to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2070 at the latest.