It is noteworthy that a group of only 24 countries - formed at this COP 30 - will meet next April for a conference co-hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands to work on plans for a complete fossil fuel phase-out. Other participating countries include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Fiji, Finland, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Micronesia, Nepal, Panama, Spain, Slovenia, Vanuatu and Tuvalu.

It is these countries that are leading the way in the fight for a better climate.

The two largest economies and historical emitters, the US and China, were as conspicuous in their lack of impact during the COP30 as they were before. U.S. President Donald Trump declined to send representatives as the Washington exits from global climate accords.

And China has once again proven to focus more on its own interests in trade rather than stepping into a stronger leadership role in fighting climate change while it’s energy consumption continues to rise at a staggering rate. The country accounts for one third of the of the world’s total energy consumption, compared to a fifth 15 years ago, and is responsible for 90% of the increase in these emissions since 2015. China is portraying itself as a leader in climate policy, but when it’s leader Xi Jinping announced a decrease of over 7% by 2035 a few weeks ago, he carefully avoided specifying a baseline.

Researchers think that China’s NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution) falls short to limit global warming to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, and striving to stay below 1.5 °C. As Lauri Myllyvirta, an analyst who has tracked China’s emissions trends for more than a decade, said in Nature, “Anything less than 20% is definitely not aligned with 2 degrees. Similarly, anything less than 30% is definitely not aligned with 1.5 degrees."

Myllyvirta also says that China’s announced emissions cuts — as 7–10% of an undefined amount, rather than specifying a year as the basis for calculation – leaves the door open for short-term emissions increases.

The different pathways for China to achieve carbon neutrality between 2030 and 2060 could result in different amounts of cumulative emissions, says Myllyvirta. “What matters for the climate is the total amount of GHGs emitted into the atmosphere over time,” he says, adding that this is why cutting emissions fast early on is important.

So we should not criticize Australia here, but rather China, the U.S., Russia, and Russia as it is them that opposed to phase out fossil fuels.