By Lisandra Paraguassu, Kate Abnett and Sudarshan Varadhan
BELEM, Brazil (Reuters) -The COP30 climate talks in Brazil have reached a tentative deal after negotiators resolved a protracted standoff over action to cut greenhouse gas emissions and provide climate finance.
The two-week conference, billed as a chance to show that nations can still join forces to tackle climate change despite the absence of the United States, had been scheduled to end on Friday but dragged into overtime.
A draft deal issued on Saturday showed countries had agreed on steps to help speed up climate action, review related trade barriers, and triple the money given to developing countries to help them withstand extreme weather events.
It also left out language on the need for the world to move away from fossil fuels - a key issue that the European Union had been pressing for against stiff resistance from the Arab Group of nations including top oil exporter Saudi Arabia.
Instead, fossil fuels will be addressed in a side text that is not included in the official accord.
The European Union's climate commissioner, Wopke Hoekstra, said on Saturday that the proposed agreement was acceptable, even though the bloc would have liked more.
"We should support it because at least it is going in the right direction," he said.
The Brazilian presidency scheduled a closing plenary session for late morning in Belem, but by early afternoon the meeting had not materialized.
Negotiators warned that the tentative accord was still at risk of failing if delegations raise new objections.
Any deal needs a consensus to be approved.
FOSSIL FUEL PLEDGE MOVED INTO 'ROADMAP'
COP30 President Andre Correa do Lago said on Saturday that the presidency would publish a side text on fossil fuels as well as on protecting forests - instead of adding them to the official agreement - as there had been no consensus on these issues at the global climate talks.
"I will announce that the Brazilian presidency will do the two 'roadmaps' because visibly we did not have maturity to reach consensus. I believe if we do it under the presidency we will have results," he said.
He said that developing countries' concerns had been satisfied by this approach.
The decision to triple climate finance by 2035, meanwhile, will be part of the COP30 agreement, resolving a key demand from poorer nations struggling to cope with worsening climate impacts like rising seas, heat waves, and storms.
"COP30 has not delivered everything Africa asked for, but it has moved the needle," said Jiwoh Abdulai, Sierra Leone's environment minister.
"There is clearer recognition that those with historical responsibility have specific duties on climate finance," he said.
Separately, a Leaders' Declaration from a G20 meeting in South Africa stressed the seriousness of climate change, in a snub to U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump has called climate change a hoax and has enacted policies to ramp up already record-high U.S. fossil fuel production.
(Reporting by William James, Lisandra Paraguassu, Kate Abnett and Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Katy Daigle, Kevin Liffey and Toby Chopra)
