On the first day of this year’s United Nations climate summit, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva promised attendees that this conference would be different. The 30th annual Conference of the Parties, or COP30, would be the “COP of truth,” he said.
The Brazilian president’s forceful remarks at the outset of negotiations in the Amazonian city of Belém were meant to set the stage for a new chapter in international climate diplomacy. On the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, the time had come, according to Lula, to stop arguing about what the historic agreement requires and instead focus on implementation — actually taking the steps required to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect countries against the coming economic and public health consequences wrought by climate change.
In the same speech, Lula called for a “road map” for the world’s phaseout of fossil fuels. This was intended to make good on an international agreement made two years ago at COP28, when U.N. member countries reached consensus on the need to “transition aw... Read more
