The voices of experts, journalists and activists - COP30 in fast motion (Part 1)
Tagesthemen from 10.11.2025 - Conference start
The first official coverage of the start of COP30 in the tagesthemen programme1tagesthemen 21:45, 10.11.2025 🌐 https://youtu.be/d5izA3zaByk .
Expectations at the start of the conference:
- Hopes were high: Brazil as host should set a progressive tone
- But: The blockade was already apparent at the start of the conference
- Saudi Arabia demanded that the word „fossil fuels“ not be included in the agenda at all
- Colombia and progressive countries called for a real exit plan
- Tagesschau forecast: „It will be difficult“
Photo: Aerial view of the skyline of the city of Belém and the Amazon River in the Amazon region in the state of Pará, Brazil. -Paralaxis / iStock by GettyImages
Heute Journal from 11.11.2025 - Friedrich Merz turns 70
This programme was published in the middle of the COP30 negotiations and also includes COP coverage2heute journal from 11/11/2025 Merz turns 70, IT security in Germany 🌐 https://youtu.be/OPB1R16svFA .
The Merz aspect:
- Merz flew to the conference for his 70th birthday
- Programme shows: He was on site, but made strange statements about the venue
- His presence seemed more like a PR event than genuine climate policy
- Germany was criticised for the fact that the Chancellor was not present at all times
Reporting on the COP:
- The negotiations had already reached a massive deadlock by 11 November
- Saudi Arabia and other oil states show blockade behaviour
- Countries of the Global South threatened with withdrawal
Photo: Street sign „From the frying pan into the fire“ Friedrich Merz. - Astrid860 / iStock by GettyImages
Heute Journal from 22.11.2025 - ZDF reporting at the end
The ZDF main news programme reported on 22 November 2025 at the end of COP303heute journal from 22.11.25 Climate summit, G20 summit in South Africa 🌐 https://youtu.be/fr0pBUdjnJY .
Key points of the reporting:
- The final document was adopted after 19 hours of extra time
- Without an exit plan for fossil fuels
- Russia boycotted at the last moment and tried to prevent the entire agreement (which did not succeed)
- Climate financing has been set at USD 300 billion per year until 2035 - well below the requirement of USD 400+ billion
- Federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider was „a little disappointed“ - a shameful understatement
A little disappointed, yes, that's probably one way of putting it. I'm also a little disappointed that there is no exit plan from the fossil fuel industry. I find it a little disappointing that it's more about compensation payments and the costs of climate damage than about real climate protection - i.e. preventing precisely this climate- and extreme weather-related damage before it happens.
Especially as I don't understand the logic of waiting until the damage occurs, presumably people lose their lives, and then rebuilding everything.
And even if that doesn't work, there's still the matter of coal. Not fossil fuels, money. Money always works. At least that's what I thought. But I was obviously wrong. As soon as it comes to environmental protection, decision-makers seem to have blinkers on.
In this case, the decision-makers are our politicians. And that brings us full circle. I'm a little disappointed in our politicians, who couldn't bring themselves to spend more than 24 hours at the COP30. No experts in tow who could have actively engaged in the dialogue. Just a photo for Instagram and off home - to blabber to the camera about how nice it is in Germany. They were just in Belém nobody wants to live there. I asked them all, nobody wanted to go back to Brazil.
When I think about it, maybe it's better that the German brigade was only there for one day. Who knows what else Merz would have messed up.
When researching this article, I looked at the international press as well as the German press. The rest of the world didn't take Merz's faux pas lying down. But not at all. Let me put it this way: they were not amused. You'll find out what went down in the next article.
Cover picture: Collage from Friedrich Merz's ‘private plane„, presumably a Bundeswehr Airbus, Merz's 70th birthday, crowds at the COP30, Amazon jungle between deforestation and slash-and-burn. Created with AI.*
*Declaration on the use of AI
- As far as possible, I do without AI.
- If I do use AI, I take care to preserve artists' rights by using platforms such as the AI generator from iStock by GettyImages, which works exclusively with licensed image material for training purposes and for which the authors have actively consented to its use.
- In addition, every AI request I make, without exception, is ecologically overcompensated many times over, including by more than 15,000 square metres of rainforest, the purchase and protection of which I have financed.
- And for those who still know better: good for you, just write a hater post in the comments. You're not the first.
