[Source: Reuters]

Talks at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil were disrupted on Thursday after a fire broke out in the venue, triggering an evacuation just as negotiators were hunkering down to try to land a deal to strengthen international climate efforts.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had appealed earlier in the day for a deal from the summit, welcoming calls from some for clarity on the hotly disputed subject of weaning the world off fossil fuels.

Security footage showed flames breaking out at an exhibition pavilion and spreading rapidly up an internal fabric shell that lined the walls and ceiling of the building, before being extinguished. Delegates ran from the area as it filled with smoke.

Thirteen people were treated for smoke inhalation at the venue, organizers said. The local fire service said it was probably caused by electrical equipment, likely a microwave, and was controlled within six minutes.

Thousands of delegates were evacuated as security staff formed a human barrier across the hallway. The U.N. summit organisers said they would issue an update at 8 p.m. (2300 GMT) following a safety evaluation.

The summit in the Amazon city of Belem, Brazil, had already missed a self-imposed Wednesday deadline to secure agreement among the nearly 200 countries present on issues including how to increase climate finance and shift away from fossil fuels.

Brazil circulated a draft deal among governments on Thursday which did not include a roadmap on transitioning away from fossil fuels, two negotiators told Reuters, although the document is still being discussed.

Emissions from burning fossil fuels trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere and are by far the biggest contributor to warming.

There are less than 48 hours until the scheduled end of the summit to find a consensus, which host nation Brazil has framed as a crucial step to ramping up international climate action and demonstrating that there is broad support to accelerate turning decades of promises and pledges from the COP summits into concrete action.

“One thing is clear, we are down to the wire, and the world is watching Belem,” Guterres said.

The two-week negotiation has become hung up on two issues – the future of fossil fuels and the delivery of climate finance – that expose criss-crossing fault lines between negotiating blocs from rich Western countries, oil producers and smaller states most vulnerable to climate change.

Taking their cue from Brazil, dozens of countries including both developed and developing nations have mounted a push for a roadmap setting out how countries should transition away from fossil fuels.

Others, including some fossil fuel-producing nations, are resisting.

The COP28 climate summit in 2023 agreed, after protracted discussion, to a transition, but nations have not mapped out how – or when – it will happen.

“I am perfectly convinced that a compromise is possible,” Guterres added.

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