Fossil of the Day – Russia; Colossal Fossil of COP30 – Saudi Arabia & EU; Ray of the COP – Colombia; Special Mention – COP30 Workers
Today’s Fossil of the Day goes to Russia – for turning obstruction into an Olympic discipline and managing to slow down almost every corner of COP30 without breaking a sweat.
From gender negotiations to Just Transition to adaptation finance, Russia has made procedural sabotage look like a daily training regime.
In the Gender negotiations, it burned through hours with procedural nitpicking – including a passionate defense of outdated “he/she” language. A bold stand… for grammatical regression.
In the Just Transition talks, including BAM, Russia fought tooth and nail to keep fossil fuels snug in the official text – championing “transitional fuels,” warning of the “negative aspects” of renewables, and dragging the conversation backwards while others tried to move forward.
And what about their magical “85% clean energy” claim? A true masterpiece of creative accounting: dressing up gas and nuclear in green-tinted finery, like they were ready to attend a renewable energy gala. Meanwhile, Russia’s own Energy Strategy to 2050 keeps coal and gas firmly on the throne, while renewables are left languishing at just 3% by 2040 – the climate equivalent of hitting the snooze button for fifteen years.
Their chief negotiator even insisted the world would “suffer without fossil fuels” – sounding less like a diplomat and more like a Bond villain mid-monologue, ideally while stroking a white cat.
Someone might want to mention that the suffering is already here – and it’s fossil-fueled.
Russia’s new national climate plan (its NDC) currently ranks 64th out of 67 on the Climate Change Performance Index. Their 2035 target? Requires no additional effort. Not ambition — just cruise control.
And let’s not forget the war.
In three years of Russia’s full-scale invasion in Ukraine, war-related emissions have already hit 237 million tonnes of CO₂-equivalent – more than the annual emissions of Turkey or Thailand.
And fossil fuels bankroll the destruction: nearly €1 trillion earned from fossil exports since 2022, none of which went to climate action. Russia’s 2026 defence budget sits at $157 billion – a mountain growing higher. Climate finance, meanwhile, is still out searching for a seat at the table.
To top it all off: Russia has used the UNFCCC platform to legitimise its illegal occupation of Ukrainian territory, folding these regions into its official National Inventory Report.
This is not just inappropriate – it’s dangerous. It sets a precedent no one at this COP should accept.
For the delays, the distortions, the derailments, the war-fueled emissions, and the misuse of the UN climate process – and for generally being not a very nice person – Russia wins today’s Fossil of the Day.
Colossal Fossil of COP30: Saudi Arabia and the European Union
A rare double win for COP30’s most prestigious dishonour: the Colossal Fossil goes jointly to Saudi Arabia and the European Union – two vastly different players in geography, politics, and personality, yet harmonizing perfectly this week in one shared art: blocking progress.
One hollowed out the law, science and mitigation. The other performed a procedural slow dance worthy of applause. Different styles. Same impact: grinding ambition to a halt.
Saudi Arabia – Climate Demolition, Not Diplomacy
Saudi Arabia earns its Colossal Fossil for chiselling away at the foundations of global climate action with alarming consistency.
- It rejected recognition of the ICJ’s advisory opinion on climate obligations.
- It tried to delete protections for women environmental human rights defenders.
- It pushed human rights in Loss and Damage all the way down to a footnote – literally and politically.
- It ignored any proposal on following up on the already agreed commitment on transitioning away from fossil fuels.
This isn’t “constructive engagement.” It’s a demolition project.
Saudi Arabia claims that recognizing the ICJ’s legal opinion would “undermine multilateralism.”
An odd take – considering multilateralism only works when everyone agrees that law, rights, and science actually exist.
Speaking of science: It has been hard at work trying to delete references to the IPCC from multiple negotiating texts – despite the ICJ reaffirming it as the global climate science authority.
Trying to ban science from a climate conference? Bold. Misguided, but bold.
This kind of behaviour directly undermines the ambition and security of climate-vulnerable nations.
For erasing rights, eroding law, and sidelining science – Saudi Arabia earns its Colossal Fossil.
European Union – Bureaucratic Obstruction Rebranded as Leadership
The second Colossal Fossil goes to the European Union – a delegation that pretends to be a climate champion, while spending COP30 showcasing an impressive repertoire of behind-the-scenes obstruction and always coming in too late in the negotiations.
As people across the Global South grapple with droughts, debt, floods, and skyrocketing adaptation costs, paying the highest costs of climate impacts, the EU has channelled its energy into defending its own interests first.
Highlights of its extensive blocking repertoire include:
- Blocking public, grant-based finance – all talk, no transfers.
- Dodging Article 9.1 clarity – procedural gymnastics worthy of Cirque du Soleil.
- Refusing to triple adaptation finance provision from developed countries – allergic to numbers, especially big ones.
- Slashing ODA and climate budgets at home – the classic ‘pledge now, pay never’ routine.
This isn’t climate leadership. It’s ambition by branding and obstruction by practice and for this the EU takes the Colossal Fossil.
Our hope is that, in these dying hours of the conference, Saudi Arabia, the EU, and the Presidency find the courage for a late conversion – to work together, rise above obstruction, and deliver for the most vulnerable, honouring the Paris Agreement on its tenth anniversary.
Ray of the COP – Colombia
But soft – what light through yonder Amazonian canopy breaks?
This year, Ray of the COP goes to Colombia – honoured for the third consecutive year for its principled, consistent, and steadily rising leadership on the global climate agenda.
Colombia is one of the clearest voices calling for a planned transition away from fossil fuels – not as an aspiration, but as a plan. It championed the Belém Declaration on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, naming fossil fuels as the root driver of the climate crisis and calling for a global plan to phase them down and out. Colombia backs this up through leadership in the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, and by hosting the first International Conference for Phasing Out Fossil Fuels next year in Santa Marta.
On forests, Colombia is equally strong: pushing for an outcome that halts and reverses deforestation by 2030, while coordinating through the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization to unite the region in Bogotá ahead of COP.
At the negotiating table, Colombia has been constructive, consistent, and courageous – advancing an operational Just Transition mechanism rooted in justice, equity, and inclusion, backing stronger adaptation finance, and defending the Global Goal on Adaptation.
Importantly, Colombia is also helping unlock progress on Article 2.1(c) – the alignment of financial flows with climate goals – while insisting that this must be linked with developed country responsibilities under Article 9.1.
At a COP where trust is fragile, Colombia has acted as an anchor.
For its clarity, courage, and commitment to justice and ambition, Colombia wins the Ray of the COP – proof that real leadership is still possible, and still visible, when it matters most.
Special mention – COP30 workers and volunteers
Before we end, Climate Action Network offers a Special Mention to the workers and volunteers of COP30 – the people who kept this conference standing through heat, smoke, delays, evacuations, and exhaustion. Their patience, professionalism, and calm under pressure made it possible for negotiations to continue, even when everything around them was fraying. They are the quiet backbone of this process, and they deserve our gratitude.
-ENDS-
Notes to Editors
- Photos and video of today’s award ceremony: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1LipsVUn1VUWZ4ctpET70WM3j_r-b6Xd4?usp=drive_link
- Stream: https://www.youtube.com/@caninternational/streams
- Fossil of the Day happens every day at 6pm in the COP30 Blue Zone, Zone D, Action Area 1. (This is near the delegation offices and before you get to Meeting Room 1.)
- The Fossil of the Day awards (which now include Ray of the Day and the Solidarity for Justice Award) were first presented at the climate talks in 1999, in Bonn, initiated by the German NGO Forum. During United Nations climate change negotiations (www.unfccc.int), members of the Climate Action Network (CAN), vote for countries judged to have done their ‘best’ to block progress in the negotiations in the last days of talks.
Contact: Attila Kulcsar, CAN International, akulcsar@climatenetwork.org, +44 7472 124872 (WhatsApp)