Delegates evacuated the Blue Zone at COP30 after a fire broke out in a pavilion on Thursday afternoon. Photo: IETA
Activities at COP30 were suspended on Thursday afternoon after a fire broke out in one of the pavilions. The Blue Zone was evacuated and was placed temporarily under the control of the local authorities; the Presidency and UN secretariat have suspended the talks until Friday.
The fire, while giving everyone a scare, looked rather more spectacular than it really was, and quick action by the facilities crews got it under control relatively quickly. IETA's staff and our members are all accounted for, while the UN reported that 13 people were treated for smoke inhalation.
The talks were halted while the authorities checked the venue was safe. There is therefore no progress to report on the headline issues such as the "Mutirão text" and Belem packages.
Later in the evening the Presidency sounded the all-clear and the Blue Zone was reinstated at 2240 BRT, in time for discussions to resume tomorrow morning.
We'll send a final update tomorrow covering any further developments.
Don't forget to register for our post-COP briefing webinars, which we'll hold on Tuesday November 23 at either 0900 CET or 1700 CET. Speakers will include IETA leadership, including our President and CEO, Dirk Forrister; International Policy Director, Andrea Bonzanni; negotiators; and policy experts who were directly engaged in the COP30 negotiations.
In the negotiations
New draft texts for Article 6.2 and Article 6.4 were issued at 0530 BRT this morning after talks went deep into the night and observers had left to get some much-needed rest.
The Article 6.4 draft was entirely bracketed – at the request of the Like-Minded Developing Countries, we understand – but the methodological language was very neutral. There is no reopening of standards and no specific mandates to the Supervisory Body (SBM).
All references to the discussion over term limits for SBM members had been removed in the latest draft, and our team said the text contains no real request for greater MEP transparency. However we believe the Methodological Experts Panel, SBM members and the Secretariat will ensure stakeholder input is sought and considered.
Again there was plenty of commentary on the draft text from interested observers, including former CDM Executive Board member Pedro Martins Barata, who said the selection process for members of "what is an essential regulatory function" is inadequate.
Martins Barata also took issue with the paragraph extending the deadline for host countries to apply for CDM projects to transition into the PACM, calling it a "never-ending story of reopening past deadline for the sake of salvaging some project developers who may have been asleep at the wheel".
Our observers also reported that the Article 6.2 text – which is also bracketed in full – also does not contain controversial wording or deviations from past decisions, and despite the noise throughout the two weeks, the agreement not to reopen the rulebook until the mandated review in 2028 remains in the text.
All event times are listed in Brasilia time (BRT), which is three hours behind GMT and 11 hours behind Singapore time.
The IETA/ICC Business Hub is located in Pavilion D145 (see image below). It's in area D of the Delegation Pavilions hall, quite close to the main entrance, and our neighbours are Colombia, the World Meteorological Organisation, Saudi Green Buildings Forum and the Oceans pavilion.
IETA has two side event venues within the Hub: the Boardroom and the Side Event Theatre. You can find the IETA schedule of events here, while the UNFCCC has produced an online schedule of side events here.
IETA's, and indeed the programme of side events at COP30 is now over. However, our Pavilion partners ICC will host the final daily BINGO briefing at 0900 BRT on Friday at the Pavilion.
We thank you for joining us, and we particularly would like to thank all the sponsors and partners who made this year's programme possible.