World leaders warned of ‘moral failure’ on climate ahead of COP30
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Some nations are dialling back climate policies and companies have retreated from net-zero pledges.
PHOTO: AFP
Follow topic:
BELEM, Brazil – Presidents and prime ministers lamented the slow pace of work to combat climate change as they met on Nov 6 in the Brazilian Amazon city of Belém, warning that without immediate action, conditions could become unliveable for billions of people.
The world is set to overshoot a key Paris Agreement goal to limit warming to 1.5 deg C above pre-industrial levels – marking a “moral failure and deadly negligence,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said at the start of the leaders’ summit.
Meanwhile, some nations are dialling back climate policies and companies have retreated from net-zero pledges.
It’s a challenging backdrop for the COP30 conference that begins on Nov 10.
Gone is the confidence and sense of grand ambition that united nearly 200 nations a decade ago with the adoption of the landmark Paris Agreement.
Left in its place is a gnawing urgency and the hard reality of implementing some climate promises – especially as commitment to multilateralism erodes.
“The climate regime is not immune to the rationale of the zero-sum game that has prevailed in the international order,” said Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
“In a scenario of insecurity and mutual mistrust, selfish, immediate interests prevail over the common good.”
Mr Lula also foreshadowed a potential effort to map a more concrete path away from oil, gas and coal – one that could see COP30 negotiators chart a plan for delivering on countries’ two-year-old promise to “transition away from fossil fuels.”
“Despite our difficulties and contradictions, we need road maps to justly and strategically reverse deforestation, overcome dependence on fossil fuels and mobilise the necessary resources to achieve these goals,” Mr Lula said.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who forged her climate reputation calling for an overhaul of the global financial system, called for an international treaty to slash emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas that’s some 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after it’s released.
Ms Mottley, who said she aims to secure a deal before 2026’s COP31 summit, likened the effort to the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which committed the world to phasing out harmful substances that depleted the ozone layer.
The approach could deliver a “win-win” solution that buys time for the oil and gas industry to develop emission-free technologies, with international finance deployed to help farmers pare methane emissions from livestock and rice paddies, Ms Mottley said.
“We believe that the world must pull the methane brake,” Ms Mottley said. It “speaks the love language of the oil and gas sector while speaking the love language of those of us who want to save the planet.”
In successive speeches, national leaders argued that climate change still demands a collective, multilateral response even if it can be difficult to find consensus.
To those who question what COPs have achieved, “What is the alternative?” asked Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali.
“There is still no other forum where every nation can sit as equals to shape the planet’s response. So we must make this process work. But to do so, we must recognise that a COP process and a wider climate agenda is not moving forward with the speed or success our people deserve.”
Some condemned the entrenched interests – including oil, gas and coal industries – they described as lobbying to hold back climate action.
And several leaders criticised scientific disinformation, with France’s President Emmanuel Macron insisting the world must “support our scientists to win this climate battle.”
“Some seem to challenge what is evidence, what is fact,” Mr Macron said. “Climate disinformation is a threat for our democracies, for the Paris agenda and therefore for our joint security.”
The leaders’ summit is only a prelude to the official negotiations.
Still, exhortations from heads of state can help frame the conference and galvanise action.
Although more than 150 countries and organisations are expected to speak over the two-day leaders’ forum, that includes only some 20 presidents, prime ministers and royals.
The logistical challenges of getting to Belém – a city in the northern state of Pará with little tourism infrastructure – and securing scant lodging there have deterred some from making the trip.
Among the most notable absences are the heads of the world’s top emitters.
China’s President Xi Jinping and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi are forgoing an in-person address, and US President Donald Trump is shunning a conference meant to address the climate crisis he’s derided as a “scam.”
Mr Trump is pulling the US out of the Paris Agreement
Brazil on Nov 6 formally launched a rainforest protection initiative that’s a priority of Mr Lula and of the so-called “forest COP.”
Norway announced it would offer US$3 billion (S$3.91 billion) in loans for the fund, but expectations have fallen below early targets.
Heads of state and environment ministers also are set to take part in sessions dedicated to the energy transition and financing.
Mr Lula is expected to highlight a pledge to quadruple sustainable fuel production by 2035, an initiative that could help propel the use of plant-based liquid fuels to power planes, ships and automobiles.
That confers a potential advantage for ethanol powerhouse Brazil. BLOOMBERG
