COP30 opened with Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva making the point that the location of the summit was an overt” a political and symbolic decision,” that would show that the Amazon is an essential part of the climate solution.

“The Amazon is not an abstraction, it is home, it is economy, it is culture, it is life. Bringing the COP to the heart of the Amazon was an arduous task, but a necessary one. When you leave Belém, the delegates will take with them the commitment to act, while the people of the city will remain with the investments this conference has brought.” he added.

The President also outlined three pillars of action that should guide the COP30 negotiations: fulfilling the climate commitments already undertaken, strengthening global governance, and placing people at the centre of climate-related decisions.

President Lula also advocated the creation of a Global Climate Council linked to the United Nations General Assembly to ensure greater coordination and political accountability among countries.

President Lula also took aim at climate disinformation, calling fi this to be the “COP of Truth”. He reiterated that, despite the progress achieved since the Paris Agreement, the global pace remains insufficient to contain planetary warming: “We are moving in the right direction, but at the wrong speed.”

During the opening, UNFCCC executive secretary Simon Stiell warned that delegates where not at the COP to fight each other as 92 countries committed themselves to a Global Statement on Gender Equality and Climate Action, reaffirming commitment to putting human rights and gender at the heart of climate policy.

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