Austrian head of state Alexander Van der Bellen told AFP on Thursday that he would not participate in COP30 in Brazil in November, in particular due to “exceptionally high costs this year”. “These logistics costs cannot be covered in the strict budgetary framework of the presidency,” he said in a statement following costs in the Amazonian city of Belem.
Austria currently applies a policy of rigor which affects all of its institutions due to a public deficit deemed excessive by the European Union, of which it is a member. “Our budgetary consolidation requires financial cuts and a shared discipline”, he added, while stressing the importance of COP and wishing “all possible success” in Brazil.
He should have “sleeping outside”, he quipped
In early July, he said that he “hesitated to go” to Belem, ironic that he could be criticized “for having had to sleep outside”, “if the infrastructures were insufficient”.
Last week, the host country had excluded to change places when participants had expressed their dissatisfaction with the costs of accommodation. Belem has 1.3 million inhabitants and hotel offers can exceed 1000 dollars per night, COP30 denouncing “abuses” in the sector.
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The impact of the renunciation of one of the richest countries in the world
But its president André Correa do Lago said that “those who make their voices heard are the countries that are part of the groups of small islands, relatively less developed or African”. Even if it has a deficit, Austria is among the richest in the world and this European country of 9.2 million inhabitants is one of the few to have elected an ecological leader.
A new meeting of COP organizers is scheduled for continuing dialogue on issues such as accommodation. Brazil expects to accommodate some 50,000 people at the top and says they have identified housing for 53,000 people in Belem.
The UN climate conference will take place from November 10 to 21 and will be preceded by a meeting of national leaders on November 6 and 7.
