Enviro News Asia, Belém — The Belém Climate Summit officially opened on Monday, bringing together leaders and representatives from 153 delegations worldwide to strengthen political coordination ahead of the COP30 negotiations, set to begin on November 10. In his opening address, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva underscored the urgent need to accelerate the global energy transition and protect nature as the most effective measures to combat global warming.
“Accelerating the energy transition and safeguarding nature are the two most effective ways to curb global warming,” President Lula stated. “Despite our challenges and contradictions, we must develop roadmaps that reverse deforestation, overcome dependence on fossil fuels, and mobilize the resources required to achieve these goals in a fair and planned manner.”
President Lula highlighted the symbolic importance of hosting the conference in the Amazon—the planet’s largest tropical forest and a global icon of biodiversity. “For the first time in history, a Climate COP will take place in the heart of the Amazon. In the global imagination, there is no greater symbol of the environmental cause than the Amazon rainforest,” he said. “Here flow the rivers and streams that form the largest watershed on Earth, and here live the countless species that make up the most diverse biome on the planet.”
However, the President warned that this vast natural heritage faces escalating threats from climate change. “The year 2024 was the first in which the Earth’s average temperature exceeded one and a half degrees above pre-industrial levels. Science already indicates that this increase will persist for some time, or even decades, but we must not abandon the goal of the Paris Agreement,” he emphasized, referring to the commitment to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
Reflecting on the slow progress of international climate efforts, President Lula noted that humanity has been aware of the climate crisis for over three decades. “It took 28 conferences before, in Dubai, the need to move away from fossil fuels and to halt and reverse deforestation was formally acknowledged. Another year was required before, in Baku, the prospect of scaling up climate finance to US$1.3 trillion was admitted,” he said.
Declaring that “COP30 will be the COP of truth,” President Lula called for honesty, courage, and determination from world leaders. “It is time to take the warnings of science seriously. It is time to face reality and decide whether we have the courage to transform it,” he said, reaffirming that addressing the climate crisis demands international cooperation and a renewed commitment to multilateralism.
The Brazilian President also stressed the importance of connecting technical climate negotiations to people’s lived experiences. “People may not understand what emissions or metric tons of carbon are, but they feel pollution. They may not grasp the concept of carbon sinks, but they recognize the value of forests and oceans,” he said, calling for climate change to become central to decision-making in governments, businesses, and communities.
During the opening session, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres echoed President Lula’s call for decisive action, emphasizing that the world must now move from pledges to implementation. “This COP must mark the beginning of a decade of acceleration and results,” he said. “Countries must agree on an ambitious and credible response plan to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C. Responsibilities must be shared and differences respected, but that cannot be an excuse for nations to avoid doing their part.”
Guterres also called for urgent progress in renewable energy, electrification, and forest conservation. “It is time for implementation, implementation, and implementation,” he concluded.
President Lula described the Belém Summit as a new model of pre-COP engagement—an initiative by Brazil to foster political alignment and concrete climate action. “This Summit is an innovation we bring to the COP universe,” he said. “The areas of convergence are already known; our goal is to confront the divergences. The words spoken here will serve as the compass for the journey our delegations will undertake over the next two weeks.” (*)
