Julia Simon

Something caught fire.

There was a huge blaze enveloping part of the tent.

At least a dozen people were treated for smoke inhalation.

Tens of thousands of us were evacuated.

But when I ran out of the tent, the first thing I did was find this guy named Andres Gomez.

Because Emily, today's podcast, it's not about the fire.

It's about what was supposed to happen just 15 minutes after the fire broke out.

Andres is from Colombia, and he was working with the Colombian government and a group of about 20 other countries to make this big announcement.

Something that climate experts say promised to be one of the most important things to come out of this conference.

Yikes.

So you guys are trying to reschedule, I'm guessing?

A fire upends a major announcement about tackling the biggest driver of global warming, fossil fuels.

Well, quick refresher course, about 70% of the greenhouse gas emissions heating our planet, Emily, they...

from burning fossil fuels.

Facts.

And for the past 30 years, countries have been coming to these UN climate conferences to discuss how to tackle global warming.

But many countries say these conferences, they're called COPs, do not have nearly enough emphasis on the need to transition away from fossil fuels.

Again, which is the main driver of climate change.

I spoke to Juan Carlos Monterey, he's special representative for climate change of Panama, about this topic.

Yeah, Emily, it took 28 years for the COP agreement to even mention transitioning away from fossil fuels.