The UN’s climate conference failed to produce a roadmap to stop global warming.

After negotiators at COP30 retreated from meaningful climate action by failing to specifically mention the need to stop using fossil fuels in the final conference documents published Nov. 22, the disappointment inside the conference center was as pervasive as the diesel fumes from the generators outside the tent.

This year’s United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was billed as the “COP of Truth” by host country Brazil, but it could go down in history “as the deadliest talk show ever,” says Harjeet Singh, founding director of the Satat Sampada Climate Foundation in India and strategic advisor to the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative.

COP30 was yet another “theater of delay” with endless discussions, and the creation of yet more administrative duties, he says.

A draft text released Nov. 18 clearly spelled out the need to transition away from fossil fuels, but in the final version, the language was watered down, merely acknowledging that “the global transition towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development is irreversible and the trend of the future.”

After setting out ambitious targets ahead of the climate talks, COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago, the secretary for climate, energy and environment in Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acknowledged the disappointment.

“We know some of you had greater ambitions for some of the issues at hand. I know the youth civil society will demand us to do more to fight climate change,” he said.

Do Lago pledged to press for more action during his upcoming year as the COP president. “I will create two roadmaps, one on halting and reversing deforestation and another on transitioning away from fossil fuels in a just, orderly, and equitable manner,” he said.

COP30 was yet another “theater of delay.”

That was not enough for some leading climate scientists. “Implementation requires concrete roadmaps to accelerate the phase out of fossil fuels, and we got neither,” says Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany.

Looking for bright spots, former Irish President Mary Robinson, now a member of The Elders, a group of global leaders that works to address issues including climate change, said the deal is far from perfect, but shows that countries can still work together “at a time when multilateralism is being tested.”

In one final document praised by some groups, COP30 emphasized “pursuing just transition pathways.”

The outcome could have been better with stronger leadership from the European Union, which publicly advocated for more ambition, but opposed key provisions in closed-door negotiations, several observers say.

“With the U.S. absent, the European Union had a chance to lead; instead, they stepped into the vacuum as the primary obstructionist,” says Singh, noting opposition to language on fossil fuel phaseout timetables.

BOB BERWYN is an Austria-based climate reporter. This story first appeared in Inside Climate News.