Speech by President Lula at the opening of the COP30 Leaders’ Summit in Belém, Pará

More than 30 years after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the Climate Convention has returned to the country where it was born.

Today, the eyes of the world turn to Belém with immense expectation.

For the first time in history, a Climate COP will take place in the heart of the Amazon.

In global imagination, there is no greater symbol of the environmental cause than the Amazon rainforest.

Here run the thousands of rivers and streams that make up the planet’s largest hydrographic basin.

Here live the thousands of species of plants and animals that make up the most diverse biome on Earth.

Millions of people and hundreds of indigenous peoples also live here, and their lives are crossed by the false dilemma of prosperity and preservation.

Their ways of life bring together, every day, the legitimate quest for a dignified existence and the vital mission of protecting one humankind's greatest natural heritages.

Therefore, it is only fair that it is now the turn of those who inhabit the the Amazon to ask what is being done by the rest of the world to avoid the collapse of their home.

The year 2025 is a milestone for multilateralism.

We celebrate the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, and the ten years since the adoption of the Paris Agreement.

The strength of the Paris Agreement lies in respecting the protagonism of each country in defining its own goals, in light of its national capabilities.

After a decade, it has become the mirror of the greatest qualities and limitations of multilateral action.

Thanks to this Agreement, we moved away from the forecasts of an increase of up to five degrees in the global average temperature by the end of the century.

We proved that collective mobilization delivers results.

However, the climate regime is not immune to the zero-sum logic that has prevailed in the international order.

As part of a context of insecurity and mutual distrust, immediate selfish interests have prevailed over the long-term common good.

The year of 2024 was the first in which the Earth's average temperature surpassed pre-industrial levels by a degree and a half.

Science indicates that this increase will continue for some time or even decades, but we cannot abandon this Paris Agreement goal.

The United Nations Environment Program emissions report estimates that the planet is heading to be two and a half degrees warmer by 2100.

According to the Baku to Belém Roadmap, human and material losses will be drastic.

More than 250,000 people may die every year.

Global GDP may shrink by as much as 30%.

Therefore, COP30 must be the COP of truth.

It is time to take the scientific warnings seriously.

It is time to face reality and decide whether we will have the courage and determination necessary to change.

For Brazil, COP30 will be the culmination of path set by our G20 and BRICS presidencies.

At G20, we placed at the same table the ministries of Environment and Finance of the 20 economies that account for about 80% of global emissions.

At BRICS, we reaffirm the centrality of climate financing, training and technology transfer.

This Climate Summit is an innovation that we are bringing to the universe of COPs.

The convergences are already known. Our goal will be to face the differences.

We, leaders, can and should discuss everything beyond the walls of the Convention.

The words spoken here will be the compass of the journey to be made by our delegations over the next two weeks.

Humankind has been aware of the impact of climate change for more than 35 years, since the first IPCC report was published.

It has taken 28 conferences, however, to recognize for the first time, in Dubai, the need to move away from fossil fuels, and to stop and reverse deforestation.

It took an additional year for Baku to admit the prospect of expanding climate funding to one trillion and three hundred billion dollars.

Belém will honor the legacies of COPs 28 and 29.

Accelerating the energy transition and protecting nature are the two most effective ways to contain global warming.

I am convinced that, despite our difficulties and contradictions, we need maps of the path to reverse deforestation, overcome dependence on fossil fuels, and mobilize the necessary resources for these objectives — all in a fair and planned way.

To move forward, it will be necessary to overcome two discrepancies.

The first is the disconnection between the halls of diplomacy and the real world.

People may not understand what the meaning of emissions or metric tons of carbon, but they feel the pollution.

They may not understand what carbon sinks or climate regulators are, but they recognize the value of forests and oceans.

They may not be versed in concessional or mixed financing, but they know that nothing gets done without funding.

They may not assimilate the meaning of a one and a half degree increase in global temperature, but they suffer from droughts, floods and hurricanes.

The fight against climate change must be at the center of the decisions of each government, each company, each person.

The concept of mutirão, which translates as a collective effort around a common goal, is the spirit that will animate Belém.

The participation of civil society and the engagement of subnational governments will be crucial.

We will be inspired by Indigenous peoples and traditional communities — for whom sustainability has always been synonymous with their way of life.

The second discrepancy is the disconnect between the geopolitical context and the climate emergency.

Extremist forces peddle untruths to obtain electoral gains and imprison future generations in an outdated model that perpetuates social and economic disparities and environmental degradation.

Strategic rivalries and armed conflicts divert attention and drain the resources that should be channeled to confronting global warming.

Meanwhile, the window of opportunity for our action is closing rapidly.

Climate change is the result of the same dynamics that, over centuries, have fractured our societies between rich and poor, and split the world between developed and developing countries.

It will be impossible to contain it without overcoming inequalities within and between nations.

Climate justice is an ally of the fight against hunger and poverty, the fight against racism, gender equality and the promotion of a more representative and inclusive global governance.

My dear friends,

Among the Yanomami Indigenous peoples who inhabit the Amazon, there is the belief that it is up to human beings to hold up the sky so that it does not fall upon Earth.

This perspective gives the measure of our responsibility to the planet, especially regarding the most vulnerable people.

It also recognizes, however, that the power to expand horizons is in our hands.

We must embrace a new, fairer, more resilient, low-carbon development model.

I hope this Summit helps us to push the sky up even higher, and to broaden our vision beyond what we see today.

Before finishing my speech, my friends, I also wanted to thank you for your willingness to have this COP in the Amazon. Many people did not believe that it was possible to bring a COP to an Amazonian state, because people are more used to parading around big cities. We decided that for the world, however, the Amazon is like a Bible: everyone knows it exists, and they interpret it in their own way. We wanted people to come here to see what the Amazon really is, to see who the people of the Amazon really are, the nature of the Amazon, the food of the Amazon.

I want to end by requesting a round of applause for all the workers who helped build this space that we are occupying for such a brief time, and for all those who have welcomed us and served us during this COP.

I embrace you all — and wish a good COP to all of you.