Feed aggregator

Suhr Aarau kann das Heimspiel gegen den Tabellenzweiten Pfadi Winterthur lange ausgeglichen gestalten. In der zweiten Halbzeit ziehen die Zürcher aber davon und sichern sich letztendlich einen souveränen 33:29-Sieg.

Negotiations take place throughout the day and now late into the night. Credit: UN Climate Change/Kiara Worth

By Joyce Chimbi
BELÉM, Brazil, Nov 19 2025 (IPS)

At a Conference of the Parties, where science intersects with politics, reaching agreements is often a tricky business. What is inside the last-minute negotiations as the COP presidency tries to get the parties to agreement at the final plenary?

COP negotiators are diplomats and government officials who meet at the Conference of the Parties to negotiate and agree on how to address climate change. They are also often joined by COP delegates’ representatives from civil society, social movements and businesses.

As representatives of their respective countries that are parties to the UNFCCC treaty, they discuss, debate, and haggle over their preferred wording of texts and legally binding agreements regarding how to address climate change during closed-door sessions.

Windowless Closed-Door Meetings

These closed-door meetings are often also windowless, and negotiators often lose track of time as they work through extensive documentation and diverse national positions to form a final agreement towards the end of the COP summit schedule.

COP 30, Belém, is posting a daily photographic glimpse into the collective effort to build trust, dialogue, and cooperation to accelerate meaningful climate action and deliver its benefits to all. Many hope this message will permeate inside these rooms.

The UN climate summit has now entered its final stages. The Brazilian COP30 Presidency has extended working hours, scheduling late-night meetings for the last two nights—Monday and Tuesday, Nov 17 and 18, 2025.

Tonight might not be any different, as the COP30 Presidency pushes for a rapid compromise and conclusion of a significant part of negotiations to pave the way for a “plenary to gavel the Belém political package.”

After all, the COP is where the science of the Paris Agreement intersects with politics.

The Elusive True Mutirão 

The COP30 Presidency is urging all “negotiators to join in a true mutirão—a collective mobilization of minds, hearts, and hands,” saying this approach helps “accelerate the pace, bridge divides, and focus not on what separates us, but on what unites us in purpose and humanity.”

But this is the point in the negotiations, even in a ‘COP of truth,’ as COP30 was staged to be, where the real claws come out amid accusations of protectionism, trade tensions and geopolitical dynamics as the worlds of business, politics and human survival intersect.

Even as UN officials urge parties to accelerate the pace, warning that “tactical delays and procedural obstructions are no longer tenable” and that deferring challenging issues to overtime results in collective loss, reconciling deep differences among nations is proving easier said than done even within the Global Mutirão—a concept championed by the COP30 presidency.

It calls for worldwide collective action on climate change, inspired by the Brazilian and Indigenous Tupi-Guarani tradition of mutirão, which means “collective effort.” The bone of contention at this juncture is what some parties see as weak climate commitments, insufficient financial pledges from the global North to South, and trade measures.

Protectionism

Trade measures are turning contentious and deeply debatable in Belém because of a difference of perspective—developing countries view them as protectionism, while some developed countries see them as necessary to level the playing field for their climate policies.

For developing countries, protectionism is a deliberate strategy by more developed countries to limit imports to protect their industries from foreign competition and therefore give them an undue advantage.  Developing nations say this is unfair because it restricts their ability to export and gain access to larger markets.

The core of the debate at COP30 is the inclusion of issues like the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in climate talks. For some countries, CBAM is a direct part of climate action and belongs at COP. Others say it is an agenda best discussed at the World Trade Organization.

The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is a tool to put a price on the carbon emissions of certain imported goods, ensuring that the carbon price for imports is equivalent to that for domestic EU production. Its main goals are to prevent “carbon leakage,” or companies moving production to countries with weaker climate policies, encourage cleaner production globally, and protect EU businesses by creating a level playing field.

How to Go About a Just Transition?

The business of climate change is not the only thing that is complex and divisive. There are also small island states calling for rapid emissions cuts vis-à-vis the positions of major emerging economies. G77 and China are an intergovernmental coalition of 134 developing countries that work together to promote their collective economic and developmental interests within the United Nations framework.

China is not an official member and does not pay dues. It has been a partner since 1976, providing significant financial support and political backing to the G77. Developed countries such as the UK, Norway, Japan, and Australia are pushing back against their proposed global just transition, thereby prolonging the negotiations.

Developed nations are refusing the global just transition proposal by the G77 and China because they see it as a new and unnecessary mechanism and a duplication of existing structures. They refuse to accept the financial and technical support these countries are asking for to facilitate this transition. Simply put, they want a less strict framework that allows their own interpretations of existing institutions and funding structures for the just transition.

Where is the Adaptation Financing?

Finance for adaptation is similarly a sticking point. Developed nations are dragging their feet around committing sufficient funds to support developing nations to adapt to climate impacts and transition their energy systems. It is still not clear whether financial commitments will be embedded inside adaptation goals or remain as they are—separate.

Lobbyists and the Fossil Fuel Debate

Amidst growing tensions, it is also not clear whether this COP will phase out or phase down fossil fuels in the final agreement. The large delegation of fossil fuel lobbyists suggests it is too early to call. On the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), those who want indicators for measuring adaptation progress directly linked to financial commitments will not budge. The settlement of this matter could potentially take two years (or more).

Disagreements are ongoing about the mandate of the Mitigation Work Program, which seeks to raise ambitions on national emissions reduction. In general, insiders to the negotiations are saying general negotiation tactics are at play.

Some participants are employing delay tactics to buy time and ultimately weasel out of certain commitments; a lack of trust continues, as it has in previous COPs, along with generally slow progress on building consensus around various contentious issues.

This feature is published with the support of Open Society Foundations.

 

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

Excerpt:

The COP30 Presidency is urging all “negotiators to join in a true mutirão—a collective mobilization of minds, hearts, and hands,” saying this approach helps “accelerate the pace, bridge divides, and focus not on what separates us, but on what unites us in purpose and humanity.”

Donald Trump sorgt mal wieder für Empörung. Der US-Präsident hat eine Bloomberg-Journalistin an Bord der Air Force One als «Schweinchen» beleidigt, nachdem sie eine Frage zu Jeffrey Epstein gestellt hatte. Der Vorfall löst scharfe Kritik aus.

Beim Auktionshaus Sotheby’s in Zürich können Sammler noch bis zum 20. November exklusive Hermès-Taschen ersteigern. Im Fokus stehen die legendären Birkin- und Kelly-Modelle. Die Preise sind nichts für kleine Budgets.

Warst du diese Woche nicht beim Live Quiz mit Zeki dabei? Das macht gar nichts, denn hier hast du nochmals die Möglichkeit, dein Wissen zu testen. Leider ohne Preis, aber dafür auch ohne stressiges Zeitlimit.

Der Bundesrat will den Gasmarkt vollständig öffnen. Alle sollen künftig ihren Anbieter frei wählen dürfen. Der eidgenössische Preisüberwacher kritisiert das Gesetz scharf.

TASR: Robert Fico (Smer) szerdán (11. 19.) a kassai U. S. Steel, valamint anyavállalata, a japán Nippon Steel képviselőivel tárgyalt. A legnagyobb japán acélgyártó idén júniusban vásárolta meg a kassai vállalatot az amerikai U. S. Steeltől 14,9 milliárd dollárért (12,86 milliárd euró). A kormányfő szerint a U. S. Steel továbbra is termelni fog, és a cég képviselőivel tárgyaltak a dekarbonizációról és a gyártás modernizálásáról.

Israels Armee hat trotz Waffenruhe Angriffe auf Hamas-Ziele im gesamten Gazastreifen gestartet. Dies als Reaktion auf Beschuss durch Terroristen in Chan Junis, wo israelische Soldaten im Einsatz waren.

Zuerst die Millionenfrage: Wo fand letztes Jahr das kälteste Formel-1-Rennen statt: a) Shanghai, b) Las Vegas, c) Suzuka, d) Montreal? Die klare Antwort ist Las Vegas. Mit nur fünf Grad während den 50 Runden.

“The EPP found itself isolated,” a parliamentary staffer said

Eltérnek a kormánypárti vélemények arról, hogy lehetővé tegyék-e a kormányzati ciklus lerövidítését népszavazás útján. Tomáš Drucker (Hlas) oktatásügyi miniszter ellenzi a javaslatot, de például Rudolf Huliak (független) közlekedési- és sportminiszter szerint a kormánynak a népakarat szerint kell eljárnia.

Europe can decarbonise its roads if it invests now, with much of the cost offset by sustainable economic returns

WM-Held und leuchtendes Beispiel – oder Gewalttäter? Die ARD-Doku behandelt in «Being Jérôme Boateng» Aufstieg und Fall des Fussballers. Erstmals spricht Jérôme Boateng ausführlich über die Vorwürfe gegen ihn.

L'Armée béninoise à travers la Direction de la participation des armées au développement et aux tâches d'intérêt public (DPADTIP) mène une vaste opération d'assistance vétérinaire gratuite au profit des communautés peulh de Guéné et ses environs à Malanville, dans le département de l'Alibori. Des équipes de la DPADTIP sont déployées dans plusieurs campements pour des traitements préventifs et curatifs, notamment contre la trypanosomose.

Joie et satisfaction pour les éleveurs peulh de Guéné et environs à Malanville. La Direction de la participation des armées au développement et aux tâches d'intérêt public initie depuis ce mardi 18 novembre 2025, une vaste opération de traitement de bétail. Des milliers de têtes de bœufs ont été présentées aux équipes de la DPADTIP, pour recevoir des soins préventifs et curatifs, notamment contre la trypanosomose. Les animaux traités dans le cadre de cette opération ont également bénéficié de vitaminothérapie et d'une déparasitation assurant leur protection pour plusieurs mois.

Cette initiative de l'armée est hautement saluée par les éleveurs peuhls. « La présence des militaires nous réjouit et nous rassure », a déclaré MOHAMADOU Aboubacar, chef de campement aux services de communication du gouvernement. Voir les militaires soigner les animaux pour lui, relève de l'inédit. « Qu'ils soient nos porte-parole pour que nous ne soyons plus pris pour cible », exhorte-t-il.
Cette opération selon le chef d'escadron Acquilas AGOSSOUKPE, représentant du Colonel IDJOUOLA Tétédé, directeur de la DPADTIP, vise avant tout à renforcer les liens armée-nation dans le cadre de la lutte contre le terrorisme. Une lutte collective qui nécessite la coopération de toutes les couches sociales.
L'opération d'assistance vétérinaire gratuite s'achève ce jeudi 20 novembre 2025.

F. A. A.

Industry groups dismiss findings as “sensationalism” amid calls for tighter regulation

On 24 November, Members of the Committee on Security and Defence (SEDE) and the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) vote jointly on the adoption of the SEDE/TRAN draft report on military mobility (Rapporteurs: Petras Auštrevičius (Renew, LT) and Roberts Zile (ECR, LV) followed by a presentation on the Military Mobility Package by Commissioner for Defence and Space A. Kubilius and Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism A. Tzitzikostas, adopted on 19 November.
The proposal puts forward a comprehensive set of measures aiming at facilitating the transport of equipment, goods and personnel for military purposes, while minimising and mitigating the impact of such transport on civilian transport.
Meeting agenda and documents
Live Streaming via the EP Multimedia Centre
Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and the Council on establishing a framework of measures to facilitate the transport of military equipment, goods and personnel across the Union
Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Granit Xhaka wird im Duell mit Kosovo mit Buhrufen eingedeckt. Die Reaktion des Nati-Captain? Grosses Kino, sagt Blick-Sportchef Emanuel Gisi.

Billy F. Gibbons, Elwood Francis und Frank Beard bringen den ZZ-Top-Sound nach Zürich: Am 14. Juli wird The Hall zur Bühne für eine einmalige Rock-Show. Es ist das einzige Konzert auf Schweizer Boden.

Die Buhrufe gegen Captain Granit Xhaka beim Nati-Gastspiel in Pristina sorgen für emotionale Reaktionen. Selbst Spieler des kosovarischen Teams stellen sich hinter den Schweizer Leader.

France backs compromise despite earlier concerns over deforestation rules