At COP30, Cambodia announced its support for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative.
This pushed the number of countries supporting the initiative to 18.
It aims to create a binding legal framework to phase out oil, gas and coal.
Cambodia announced its support for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative during a high-level meeting on November 17, 2025 at the 30th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30) at Belem, amid demands of creating roadmap to phase out fossil fuels.
With this, the southeast Asian country joined a global network of nations, cities, academics, businesses and global leaders advocating for a new binding legal instrument to accelerate a just and equitable global transition for the phase out of oil, gas and coal. The campaign has been in place for several years.
The inclusion of Cambodia increases the number of countries formally supporting the initiative to 18, while another 10 countries so far have expressed support informally and enjoy the status of observers. Two of those, Sri Lanka and Nepal, participated in meeting.
The timing of this announcement is significant, as delegates are slated to discuss over the coming week the “roadmap” to transition away from fossil fuels that Brazilian President Lula called for at the opening of the leaders’ summit before COP30 went underway.
“Cambodia supports the Fossil Fuel Treaty as a tool to accelerate global ambition. We believe its goals are essential to safeguarding our planet and protecting vulnerable communities,” said Soung Sophorn, a secretary of state of the council of ministers.
“Cambodia stresses that developing countries cannot undertake this transition alone and require enhanced international support, including climate finance, technology transfer, capacity development, and partnerships … Cambodia stands ready to work with all countries to advance the principles of no new drilling, a managed phase-out of fossil fuels, and a just, people-centred transition,” added the official.
“The proposed Fossil Fuel Treaty offers the clearest, most actionable roadmap yet, one that is binding, 1.5ºC-aligned, equity-based and includes a commitment to end expansion and scale finance for the transition. Cambodia has shown leadership by adding its support for the negotiation of a Treaty to accelerate a fast, fair, and financed global transition away from coal, oil, and gas,” observed Tzeporah Berman, the founder and steering committee chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative
Ministers of 17 participating nations to the treaty, before Cambodia joined, and 10 other like-minded countries attended the high-level meeting to discuss the legal pathway towards a Treaty, and, the legal and finance mechanisms linked to it — an overview of the Journey Fund. The discussions were also held on the first International Conference on the Phase-Out of Fossil Fuels, to be hosted by Colombia in April 2026.
“I come from Nepal, which is threatened by the impacts of raising emissions. … We are here on behalf of the people of Nepal, expressing solidarity with this initiative,” said Madan Prasad Pariyar, minister of agriculture and livestock development in Nepal, said during the meeting.
Sunimal Jayathunga, an additional secretary in Sri Lanka’s environment department, stated: “As an observer of the Initiative, we will continue to engage in this process and learn from those countries to build a mechanism to complement the existing climate treaties like the Paris Agreement, and to protect the most vulnerable countries.”
Nithi Nesadurai, director and regional coordinator of Climate Action Network Southeast Asia (CANSA) expressed joy in having Cambodia within the initative. “Cambodia has shown outstanding climate leadership (and) has now set the marker and created the impetus for the other countries in Southeast Asia also to express their support for a Treaty,” pointed out Nesadurai.
Ralph Regenvanu, climate change minister of Vanuatu, complained that “the UNFCCC process is already undermined because it is dominated by fossil fuel interests”, and claimed that the initiative has been trying to bring ambition back into this process.
“The ICJ says now that it's a legal obligation. We need to engage in initiatives such as the Fossil Fuel treaty, which are key to successfully achieving the 1.5ºC goal. What we need is for all the big emitters to work and to join us. Multilateralism is the way to solve this,” said the minister, referring to the precedent of the cluster munitions treaty, which prohibits all use, transfer, production and stockpiling of cluster munitions, as well as nuclear weapons.
Maina Talia, Minister of Climate Change of Tuvalu, welcomed more countries joining: “The logic is very simple: When we talk about the Treaty, we are talking about achieving the 1.5ºC climate goal. Achieving it means addressing the root cause of the crisis. Climate change falls disproportionately in our countries,” said the minister.
“We need everyone on board,” said Ruleta Camacho-Thomas, climate ambassador for Antigua and Barbuda.
The meeting followed the ministerial caucus of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, where ministers of participating nations discussed the legal pathways to advance progress towards the negotiation of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative.
“This dedicated process, supported by UN resolutions and other diplomatic outreach, is expected to kick off at the Conference for the Phase-Out of Fossil Fuels, hosted by Colombia in April 2026,” stated Harjeet Singh, a climate activist and global engagement director to the treaty initiative.