COP30 opens in Belém with calls for fossil fuel phase-out, finance breakthroughs, and a credible NDC response

Photo: © UN Climate Change – Kiara Worth Excerpt from tanahair.net

Jakarta — COP30 opened in the Amazonian city of Belém on Monday, November 10, with Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva renewing his call for a global plan to move beyond fossil fuels, framing COP30 as a decisive moment to confront widening emissions gaps and secure climate finance.

President Lula brought urgent appeals from vulnerable nations to put climate impacts and adaptation at the centre of negotiations. Belém, he declared, would serve as the “capital of the world” for the next two weeks as governments, mayors, Indigenous leaders, civil society groups and businesses race to close the gap on national climate commitments (NDCs), scale adaptation finance, and unlock investment in forests and nature.

COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago lauded Lula’s speech as “amazing” and underscored the symbolic power of opening the summit with Indigenous singers and prominent cultural figures. “It’s great to have the Head of State so committed to this COP,” he said.