- The UN climate conference COP30 has started in the Brazilian city of Belém.
- President Lula calls for the defeat of climate change deniers.
- Jim Skea warned against exceeding the limit of warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
- COP30 delegates discuss the need for dramatic reductions in emissions and renewable energy.
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. 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.
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.” Brazilian president at the same time he criticized those who reject scientific evidence and “spread fear, attack institutions, science and universities”. In Lula’s words, “it’s time to beat the naysayers,” He added that fighting for climate protection is much cheaper than waging wars.
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 returning warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial times “is still possible”. But it will require an immediate, significant and permanent reduction of emissions causing the warming of the planet, as well as the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which is not yet happening to the required extent. AFP recalled that Environmental activists fear that geopolitical tensions are distracting states from the fight against climate change – from wars to trade disputes – despite the fact that 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 to be achieved at the negotiations in Belém: stronger commitments to phasing out fossil fuels, developing renewable energy sources and providing promised funding to poor countries to cope with an increasingly harsh climate.
Countries that are parties to the UN 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.
