The world must “defeat” the denial of climate change and fight fake news, said the president of Brazil, in his speech in the context of it being held in his country, specifically in the city of Belem.
In a rallying speech to participants, President Lula once again made few references to the president, who called climate change a “hoax” last September.
It is recalled that the talks, which will last two weeks, began last Monday and are taking place in a tense political setting, as the US has not sent senior officials.
“COP30 will be the COP of truth”
Addressing the conference, President Lula said that in an era of “fake news and deception” but also “rejection of scientific evidence”.
Without naming President Trump, President Lula went on to say, “they control the algorithms, they sow hate and they sow fear.”
“It’s time to deliver another defeat to the naysayers,” he added, among other things.
It is recalled that since President Trump took office in January, he has promised to invest significantly in fossil fuels, saying that this will ensure greater economic prosperity for the US.
His administration has even canceled more than $13 billion in renewable energy funding and is taking steps to open up more areas of the US to oil and gas exploration.
This puts the country at odds with the majority of states that remain committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and investing in green energy.
The predicament in which the COP talks find themselves
This backdrop has put the COP talks in a difficult position as participating nations seek to make progress on tackling climate change without the participation of the world’s largest economy.
Addressing officials in Belem, UN climate chief Simon Steele initially struck an optimistic tone. He said significant progress had been made in the past decade in reducing emissions of climate-changing gases.
But then he took aim at the “controversies” between the countries.
“None of your nations can afford this as climate disasters reduce GDP by double digits,” he said.
Brazil wants to use its presidency of the talks to secure progress on key promises made in previous years.
This includes moving away from the use of fossil fuels that cause climate change, funding for developing countries on the front lines of climate change and protecting nature.
A central pursuit of President Lula da Silva is a fund called the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), which Brazil hopes will raise $125 billion to protect tropical forests worldwide.
The goal is to limit the increase in temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius
After several disagreements, the participating states finally agreed on the agenda for the conference on Monday.
Specifically, they agreed to examine whether the goal of keeping global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is achievable.
Groups on the front lines of climate change, including an alliance called the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) which mainly represents Caribbean and Pacific countries, insisted the talks would address the long-standing goal.
In recent weeks, even the UN has said it accepts that exceeding this temperature is “inevitable”.
Last week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told leaders in Belem that 1.5°C was a “moral failure and fatal negligence”.
