Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declared on Monday at the opening of the 30th UN Climate Conference in the Brazilian city of Belém that the time has come to defeat climate change deniers.
In short:
- Lula calls for the defeat of climate change deniers
- COP30 is taking place in Belém, Brazil and is of global importance
- Delegates address the non-fulfillment of the goals of the Paris Agreement
- Geopolitical conflicts reduce attention to climate action
As reported by AFP, the 30th UN climate conference began on Monday in the Amazon region of Brazil. It aims to maintain global climate cooperation at a time when some countries, including the United States, are questioning it.
Climate protection is a priority
According to TASR, in his speech at the beginning of this two-week conference, Lula strongly advocated multilateral climate actions. He pointed out that “climate change is no longer a threat of the future. It is a tragedy of the present.”
At the same time, the Brazilian president criticized those who reject scientific evidence and “spread fear, attack institutions, science and universities”. In Lula’s words, “it’s time to defeat the deniers,” adding that fighting for climate protection is much cheaper than waging war.
Stricter measures are needed
COP30 delegates will also have to respond to the failure of states to meet the landmark goal of the Paris Agreement, which is to limit warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial times, after scientists and the UN warned in recent days that a temporary exceedance of this level is now practically unavoidable. Jim Skea, who heads the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), pointed out in a video address to the participants of the COP30 conference in Belém that this is a consequence of insufficient measures in the field of climate in recent years and the subsequent continued increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
However, he added at the same time that it is “still possible” to return warming below the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial era. But it will require an immediate, significant and permanent reduction of the emissions causing the warming of the planet, as well as the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which is not yet happening on the necessary scale.
Attention and geopolitical threats
AFP recalled that environmental activists fear that geopolitical tensions – from wars to trade disputes – are distracting states from the fight against climate change, even as powerful storms have recently devastated populated areas in the Caribbean and Asia.
UN Climate Director-General Simon Stiell called on countries to act much faster to reduce emissions and meet the target of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. He called for concrete results at the Belém talks: stronger commitments to phasing out fossil fuels, developing renewable energy sources and providing promised funds to poor countries to cope with an increasingly harsh climate.
Important global cooperation
Countries that are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, adopted in Brazil at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, meet annually to strengthen the global climate regime. These efforts culminated in the 2015 Paris Agreement, which commits the world to limiting global warming to less than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, while also striving to keep warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius over the pre-industrial level.
