World News: COP 30 Convenes to Mixed Reviews

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Category: World News - Europe

Published on Monday, 10 November 2025 10:10

Written by Olivier Longhi

The opening of United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP 30 still raises the question of the use of fossil fuels within a humanity that is still unable to generate another operating model detached from carbon. Explanations.

As COP 30, a conference dedicated to the future of the climate on a global scale, opens in Belém, Brazil, some people are rightly questioning the usefulness of this international event, which has been brought to the pinnacle by some, surrounded by suspicion by others.

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For the latter, in particular, the COPs appear to be generators of additional constraints on the activity of their economy. Because this is where the whole question of the usefulness of the COPs arises. Are they really timely and effective in a world that is still largely (too much?) dependent on fossil fuels, starting with oil? China and the United States, the world's leading polluters but also the main engines of global growth, set the pace of the global economy through their decisions in favor or against the environment.

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Observation and Responsibility

Admittedly, the Middle Kingdom is multiplying pro-environmental operations, in particular through the development of offshore wind power, but most of China's activity remains fundamentally based on the use of oil and coal.

The same is true in the United States, where oil, which has been set up as the king of energy, and which has been strengthened by Donald Trump's desire to revive American industry, remains the natural resource that is the pillar of one of the most polluting economies.

However, to place the sole responsibility of COP with limited scope on these two nations would be unfair, incomplete and unfounded. The entire planet consumes oil and other fossil fuels because the global economic model is based on these energies, which are abundant in quantity, flexible in use, infinite in their development (petrochemicals, industry,....). The question that emerges today is no longer how to limit the effects of fossil fuel gases on the global climate, but whether humanity is ready to change the operating model that dates back to the early hours of the Industrial Revolution.

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Automotive and climate

And, let's face it, it will be easier to abandon oil than to change the model that results from it. Owning an electric car does not exempt you from carbon responsibilities because the construction of this same car has led to the use of oil in the service of an industry that employs millions of employees and generates profits that themselves meet the criteria dictated by the operating model.

It is therefore natural to worry about the climate, the survival of humanity depends on it, but it is even more urgent to look at the creation of a new planetary operating model. And to revive the debate on degrowth, which for some is the key to a new model. For the time being, with nearly 8.1 billion inhabitants, humanity is facing a challenge that seems to be beyond it: reinventing itself to save itself.

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Bio: Olivier Longhi has extensive experience in European history. A seasoned journalist with fifteen years of experience, he is currently a professor of history and geography in the Toulouse region of France. He has held a variety of publishing positions, including Head of Agency and Chief of Publishing. A journalist and recognized blogger, editor, and editorial project manager, he has trained and managed editorial teams, worked as a journalist for various local radio stations, was a press and publishing consultant, and was a communications consultant.