Prakash Kashwan, Dec. 13 -- Climate negotiators, researchers, and activists converged in the Amazonian city of Belem for the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change from November 10-21. With part of the conference venue nearly engulfed in flames just days before the summit's decisive phase, the symbolism was not lost on delegates. The roof is, quite literally, on fire even as governments struggle to phase out fossil fuels.
These annual climate conferences are dominated by a longstanding and continuing tension between industrially advanced countries that emitted a majority of the accumulated stock of greenhouse gases (from 1850-2021) responsible for climate change, and the rest of the world, w...