COP30 Ministers Take Over in Belém as EU Defends Controversial Carbon Border Tax

COP30 moves to ministerial stage amid heated dispute over EU carbon import measure

Ministers arrived in the Amazonian city of Belém on Monday as COP30 entered its final phase, opening a critical week of negotiations where delegates face sharp disagreements over trade measures, finance and the global 1.5°C goal.

EU defends carbon border measure

At the centre of the dispute is the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) — widely described by critics as a carbon import tax — which aims to price carbon emissions embedded in imports of carbon-intensive goods. Trialled since 2023 and scheduled to be fully operational in 2026, CBAM covers sectors such as steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen.

EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra urged broader uptake:

"Pricing carbon is something that we need to pursue with as many as possible, as quickly as possible."

China, India and several allies have pushed for COP30 to adopt a decision condemning unilateral trade barriers — a direct response to CBAM. Li Gao, head of China’s COP30 delegation, warned delegates that countries should "avoid the negative impact of, for example, geopolitical unilateralism or protectionism."

Hoekstra, however, insisted the EU would not accept framing CBAM as a unilateral trade measure and said talks should focus on cooperation rather than trade disputes.

Urgency, fossil fuels and the 1.5°C threshold

UN Climate Executive Secretary Simon Stiell urged ministers to tackle the hardest issues early:

"There is a huge amount of work ahead for ministers and negotiators. I urge you to get to the hardest issues fast. When these issues get pushed deep into extra time, everybody loses."

Small island states, backed by several Latin American countries and the EU, are pushing for clearer COP language that recognises current trajectories will overshoot the 1.5°C limit. Steven Victor, Palau’s environment minister and chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), said the target is a "non-negotiable survival threshold" for vulnerable nations.

Major emerging economies, including China and Saudi Arabia, are wary of wording that could be perceived as singling them out. Host nation Brazil has called for an ambitious outcome on fossil fuels, but it is unclear whether this will be delivered as a formal UN decision — which requires consensus — or through a separate declaration by willing countries. Brazil’s Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin urged ministers to agree to "integrated action plans" to transition away from fossil fuels.

Financing remains a central fault line

Money is again at the heart of negotiations. Following last year’s summit in Baku, developed countries agreed to a goal of providing $300 billion a year in climate finance to poorer nations — a figure many developing countries say is far too low. African and other developing delegations want COP30 to clearly call out wealthy nations for not delivering sufficient funds for adaptation and mitigation.

The Brazilian COP30 presidency published a memo outlining the main options and divergent positions to help frame the endgame. As Li Shuo, a climate expert at the Asia Society Policy Institute, put it: this document is "setting the table for the end game" and ministers will need to find a delicate balance between trade, the 1.5°C objective and finance.

What to watch this week

• Negotiations on text referring to 1.5°C and fossil fuel transitions.
• Bilateral talks — especially between EU and Chinese officials — over CBAM and trade language.
• Progress (or lack of it) on operationalising the $300 billion climate finance pledge and concrete adaptation funding.

With the COP30 closing date set for Friday, ministers face a tight timeline to reconcile competing priorities before talks potentially spill into overtime.