Last Friday and Saturday world leaders are meeting in Belém, in the Amazon, ahead of COP30. On the agenda is energy transition, discussed at the head of state level. That is the moment to say how fast the world will leave coal, oil and gas and execute a just full fossil fuel phase out. It’s a moment to let actions follow words and really commit.
Warning signs are already on the table. The World Meteorological Organization says staying close to 1.5°C without overshoot is now very unlikely. Greenhouse gases keep rising. While policies don’t meet realities and needs. It does not seem like a political priority either. Some of the biggest emitters are not sending their leaders, this includes not only the US, European nations and others, some are just there for about 30 hours. That weakens the signal from Belém, the unity in ambition wanted 10 years after the Paris Agreement, and puts more weight on the energy discussion. If we want to leave Belém with a success, it needs a commitment to a just energy transition and a full fossil phase out.
YES-Europe comes to this summit with a youth position written. YES-Europe comes to this summit with a youth position written. The YES-Europe COP30 team is led by Amaryllis Perotti and Caterina Bittendorf, with contributions from Martina Chiarini, Suvd-Erdene Otgonbaatar, Maximilian Buchsteiner and Stefano Cisternino. Together with the European Youth Energy Network (EYEN), it spent the past year studying how the transition affects young people in Europe. The outcome is the COP30 Advocacy Roadmap “Green Jobs for Youth”, which sets out demands on jobs, skills, inclusion, gender and funding, and is available here: Green Jobs for Youth – A COP30 Advocacy Roadmap.
These demands match needs and negotiated agenda. They ask governments to move green employment towards regions where brown industries are closing. They ask for training for advanced energy jobs, and for practical roles such as installers and operators. They ask for social conditions on public money, including a ban on unpaid internships and youth hiring targets of at least 15 percent. They call for gender measures that follow UNFCCC work. They also call for finance based on the polluter pays principle, so local actors can apply climate policies. All five parts are in the advocacy roadmap, ready for negotiators.
In Belém and at home, youth asks for clear language on fossil fuel phase out. They ask for finance that reaches local level. They ask for real places for young people in the transition. Without that, world leaders will leave Belém without addressing the elephant in the room, and destroying hope to keep 1.5 within reach – it will look like a summit that forgot those most affected, us and our future.
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