UN holds emergency talks over sky-high costs for COP30 climate summit

Straits Times

29-07-2025

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BRUSSELS - The United Nations' climate bureau held an urgent meeting on Tuesday over concerns that sky-high accommodation prices for this year's COP30 climate summit in Brazil could price poorer countries out of the negotiations, according to diplomats and a document seen by Reuters.
Brazil is preparing to host this year's U.N. climate summit in November in the rainforest city of Belem, where nearly every government in the world will gather to negotiate their joint efforts to curb climate change.
Concerns about logistics have dogged preparations for COP30. Developing countries have warned that they cannot afford Belem's accommodation prices, which have soared amid a shortage of rooms.
In an emergency meeting of the U.N. climate body's "COP bureau" on Tuesday, Brazil agreed to address countries' concerns about accommodation and report back at another meeting on August 11, said Richard Muyungi, chair of the African Group of Negotiators, who called the meeting.
"We were assured that we will revisit that on the 11th, to get assurances on whether the accommodation will be adequate for all delegates," Muyungi told Reuters after the meeting.
He said African countries wanted to avoid trimming their participation because of the cost.
"We are not ready to cut down the numbers. Brazil has got a lot of options in terms of having a better COP, a good COP. So that is why we are pushing that Brazil has to provide better answers, rather than telling us to limit our delegation," Muyungi said.
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Another diplomat familiar with the meeting said complaints about affordability came from both poor and wealthy nations.
An agenda for Tuesday's meeting, seen by Reuters, confirmed it was convened to address "operational and logistical preparations for the Climate Change Conference in Belem" and the African Group of Negotiators' concerns on the matter.
Brazil's Foreign Ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Brazilian officials organising the summit have made repeated assurances that poorer countries will have access to accommodation they can afford.
CRUISE SHIP HOTELS
Brazil is racing to expand the 18,000 hotel beds usually available in Belem, a coastal city of 1.3 million, to host the roughly 45,000 people projected to attend COP30.
The government this month said it had secured two cruise ships to provide 6,000 extra beds for delegates. It also opened bookings to developing countries for more affordable accommodation at daily rates of up to $220.
That is still above the "daily subsistence allowance" the U.N. offers some poorer nations to support their participation at COPs. For Belem, the figure is $149.
Two U.N. diplomats showed Reuters quotes they had received from hotels and property managers in Belem for rates of around $700 per person per night during COP30.
Officials from six governments, including wealthier European nations, told Reuters they had not yet secured accommodation because of high prices, and some said they were preparing to reduce their participation.
A spokesperson for the Dutch government said it may need to halve its delegation compared with recent COPs, when the Netherlands sent around 90 people during the two-week event, including envoys, negotiators and youth representatives.
Poland's deputy climate minister Chris Bolesta told Reuters earlier this month: "We don't have accommodation. We'll probably have to cut down the delegation to the bone."
"In an extreme event, maybe we will have to not show up," he said. REUTERS