Boos, Blowups and a Last-Minute Pause: Chaotic Close to COP30 in Belém

The closing hours of COP30 in Belém played out with the same disorder that marked the two-week conference, exposing deep divisions that nearly unraveled a final agreement.

Andre Correa do Lago, the well-dressed Brazilian diplomat who chaired the summit, opened the final plenary late after negotiators worked through the night to produce a compromise text. Delegates, many visibly exhausted, returned to the hall hoping the marathon talks would finally end.

The summit had already been disrupted twice by Indigenous protesters — once when they forced their way into the venue and again when they blocked delegates — and a fierce blaze on Thursday prompted a panicked evacuation earlier in the week.

Applause broke out when Correa do Lago brought down his gavel to adopt the "Mutirão" text — a Portuguese term of Indigenous origin meaning "collective action," and the summit's slogan.

Early in the session, a Holy See representative drew loud boos from NGOs after reading a strict, biology-based definition of gender — a flashpoint at this COP, where several governments sought to clarify their positions in the gender and climate action plan.

Underlying the tense atmosphere was a bitter dispute over fossil-fuel language: the European Union and others pushed for a clear "roadmap" to transition away from fossil fuels, while major oil producers and many emerging economies resisted that wording. That disagreement set the stage for an uncommon procedural clash in the plenary.

Colombia's Daniela Duran announced that her delegation had raised a point of order on a side text that had already been gaveled through, and that her country was formally objecting. Rather than dismiss the claim, Correa do Lago suspended the session — a rare move that signaled Brazil's intention to take the concern seriously.

Diplomats huddled in the corridors as the suspension stretched for more than an hour. Correa do Lago later apologized, saying, "As many of you, I have not slept, and probably this has not helped, as well as my advanced age," and called the omission of Colombia's point of order an honest mistake.

Still, objections continued. Russia, aligned with Brazil within the BASIC grouping, voiced its displeasure. Sergei Kononuchenko admonished dissenting delegations in Spanish: "Refrain from behaving like children who want to get your hands on all the sweets!" — a metaphor that drew a sharp rebuke from Argentina.

Practical problems plagued the conference from the outset: leaking ceilings, failing air conditioners and toilets that ran dry. In a fitting coda, a torrential Amazon downpour during the final session — what Correa do Lago called "the wonderful noise of an Amazon rain" — left parts of the carpet soaked.

The chaotic finale captured the political and logistical tensions at COP30: strong public and Indigenous pressure, deep divides over fossil-fuel language, procedural uncertainty in the plenary and infrastructure failures that compounded an exhausting negotiating process.