The world’s most crucial climate summit opened this week in Belém, Brazil, with a message as urgent as the setting is symbolic: the age of incremental change is over. From the heart of the Amazon, leaders and negotiators gathered for COP30 are being called to match opportunity with urgency — to act decisively, not just deliberate. “This is the moment to match opportunity with urgency,” said Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, urging global leaders to defeat climate denial and accelerate action to keep the 1.5°C goal alive.
UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell set the tone for the two-week summit, reminding delegates that the mission is not competition but collaboration. “Your job here is not to fight one another – your job here is to fight this climate crisis, together,” he said. “This is the growth story of the 21st century – the economic transformation of our age.”
His message reflects a cautious optimism emerging from new data. The UNFCCC reports that 113 countries, representing nearly 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions, have now updated their national climate plans (NDCs). Collectively, these commitments could reduce global emissions by 12% by 2035—a sign of progress, though still short of what’s needed to safeguard the 1.5°C target.
While emissions are beginning to decline, Stiell warned that “no national plan can solve this problem on its own.” The cost of inaction, he emphasized, is far higher. Climate-driven disasters are already cutting GDP by double digits in some regions and driving food insecurity through catastrophic droughts. “It makes neither economic nor political sense,” Stiell said, “to stand idle while proven solutions exist.”
For President Lula, hosting COP30 in Belém — the gateway to the Amazon — is both symbolic and strategic. The location grounds the summit in the urgency of protecting the world’s largest rainforest, home to over 50 million people and 400 Indigenous communities.
Lula announced a new fund to support energy transitions in developing nations, financed through oil revenues, and called for a “roadmap for humanity” to end fossil fuel dependence, reverse deforestation, and mobilize the resources to do so.
The Leaders’ Summit, held on 6–7 November, has already mobilized $5.5 billion for the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, designed to reward countries that preserve rainforests. Additional pledges include expanding sustainable fuel production, strengthening Indigenous land rights, and linking climate action with the fight against hunger, poverty, and environmental racism. As Lula put it in his closing words, “May the serenity of the forest inspire the clarity of thought needed to see what must be done.”
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Source: UN News Photo: UNFCCC/Kiara Worth
