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Climate Summit in Brazil, President Lula da Silva: Let's fight fake news and defeat global warming deniers!
2025-11-10 20:00:37 / BOTA
The world must "defeat" global warming denial and fight fake news, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said at the opening meeting of UN climate talks.
In a summit call for COP30, President Lula again made veiled references to President Donald Trump, who called climate change “a hoax” in September.
The two-week talks began today in the Brazilian city of Belém, on the edge of the Amazon rainforest. They are taking place against a tense political backdrop and the United States has not sent any senior officials.
On Monday, thousands of delegates flocked to the COP meeting site. Members of the indigenous Guajajara group, dressed in traditional attire, performed a welcoming song and dance for the assembled diplomats.
Addressing the conference, President Lula said that “COP30 will be the COP of truth” in an era of “fake news and misrepresentation” and “rejection of scientific evidence.” Without mentioning President Trump, President Lula continued, “they control the algorithms, sow hatred and spread fear.”
"It is time to inflict a new defeat on the deniers," he said.
Since President Trump took office in January, he has promised to invest heavily in fossil fuels, saying this will ensure greater economic prosperity for the US.
His administration has canceled more than $13 billion in renewable energy funding and is taking steps to open up more areas of the U.S. to oil and gas exploration. That puts the country at odds with most nations that are still committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and investing in green energy.
This backdrop has put the COP talks in a difficult position as nations aim to make progress on tackling climate change without the participation of the world's largest economy.
Some delegates fear the US may decide to send officials to undermine the talks. Other environmental talks collapsed this year after US pressure, labelled as “bullying tactics” by some participants.
Addressing officials in Belém, the UN climate chief, Simon Stiell, initially struck an optimistic tone. He said significant progress had been made in the past decade to reduce emissions of gases that warm the planet. But he then took aim at the “quarrels” between countries.
"Not a single nation among you can afford this, as climate disasters destroy GDP by double digits," he said.
Brazil wants to use its presidency of the talks to ensure progress on key promises made in previous years. This includes phasing out the use of fossil fuels that warm the planet, providing financing for developing countries on the front lines of the fight against climate change, and protecting nature.
President Lula's centerpiece is a fund called the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) that Brazil hopes will raise $125 billion to protect tropical forests globally.
Nations have yet to agree on an agenda for the conference. The group called for the COP to discuss the long-standing goal of keeping global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius. But in recent weeks, even the UN has said it accepts that exceeding that temperature is “inevitable.”
Last week, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told leaders in Belém that the failure to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius was a “moral failure and deadly negligence.”
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