COP30 opened in Belém, Brazil, with delegates urged to act together and accelerate greenhouse gas cuts. About 50,000 participants from 190+ countries are expected during the 12-day summit on the edge of the Amazon. A new UN analysis warns current pledges fall far short of reductions needed by 2035 to keep warming near 1.5°C, while scientists and Indigenous leaders demanded concrete protections and stronger commitments. The US is not sending delegates, a move organisers say highlights the voices of developing countries.
COP30 Opens in Belém — Leaders Urge Urgent, United Action to Avert Climate Crisis
COP30 opened in Belém, Brazil, with delegates urged to act together and accelerate greenhouse gas cuts. About 50,000 participants from 190+ countries are expected during the 12-day summit on the edge of the Amazon. A new UN analysis warns current pledges fall far short of reductions needed by 2035 to keep warming near 1.5°C, while scientists and Indigenous leaders demanded concrete protections and stronger commitments. The US is not sending delegates, a move organisers say highlights the voices of developing countries.
07:48 AM, 11/11/2025Environment
COP30 begins in Belém as leaders call for faster, united climate action
The 30th annual UN climate conference, COP30, opened in Belém, Brazil, on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, with calls for countries to work together and accelerate emissions cuts. Organisers expect roughly 50,000 participants from more than 190 countries during the 12-day summit.
“In this arena of COP30, your job here is not to fight one another – your job here is to fight this climate crisis, together,” UN climate chief Simon Stiell told delegates.
Stiell said past negotiations have produced progress but warned that governments must move "much, much faster" to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He added: "Lamenting is not a strategy. We need solutions." His remarks coincided with a new UN analysis showing that current national pledges fall well short of the cuts required by 2035 to keep global warming near the 1.5°C threshold above pre-industrial levels.
“Climate change is no longer a threat of the future. It is a tragedy of the present,” Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said at the conference opening, condemning attempts to undermine science and institutions.
President Lula criticised those who attack institutions and science, saying: "It’s time to inflict a new defeat on the deniers." Indigenous voices at the conference pressed leaders for immediate protections on the ground rather than more promises. Pablo Inuma Flores, an Indigenous leader from Peru, urged concrete action: Indigenous communities are among those already suffering the worst impacts.
Dozens of scientists published a letter warning that the cryosphere — the planet’s glaciers, ice sheets and seasonal snow and ice — is destabilising at an alarming pace. They urged that short-term geopolitical interests must not eclipse the summit’s work, calling climate change a defining security and stability challenge.
The United States is not sending an official delegation to COP30, a move consistent with President Donald Trump’s sceptical stance on climate policy. Todd Stern, the US’s former special envoy for climate, said Washington’s absence "wasn’t going to be constructive" but also suggested it cleared space for other voices. COP30 President André Correa do Lago said the absence offers an opportunity to showcase what developing countries are doing.
As the talks get underway in Amazonia, delegates face stark choices: strengthen national commitments, deliver practical protections for vulnerable communities and ecosystems, and translate scientific warnings into the fast, deep emissions cuts experts say are needed to avoid far worse impacts.