Global Leaders Convene in Brazil Ahead of COP30 Summit

Ahead of the official opening of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, world leaders are gathering on Thursday and Friday in Belém, Brazil, to discuss urgent actions to tackle global warming.

European leaders attending include German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, alongside top officials from the European Union and the United Nations.

The host nation, Brazil, hopes the meeting will set the stage for the two-week COP30 summit, which officially begins on Monday and is expected to attract tens of thousands of participants from about 200 countries. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has described it as the “COP of Truth,” emphasized that the conference must deliver real and measurable progress.

However, the global political landscape remains complex, with conflicts, economic instability, and uncertain fiscal outlooks overshadowing the climate agenda.

The United States, under President Donald Trump, continues to advance its fossil fuel policies and has announced that it will not send a high-level delegation to COP30.

On Thursday, leaders are expected to launch a new multibillion-dollar fund to protect tropical forests — often referred to as the planet’s “green lungs.”

Despite past pledges, progress has been slow. Although 140 countries committed in 2019 to end deforestation by 2030, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) reports that nearly seven million hectares of primary forest were lost in 2024 alone.

The summit will also present a joint call to improve international forest fire management and support Brazil’s sustainable fuel initiative, which seeks to quadruple production and usage by 2035.

A declaration addressing hunger, poverty, and climate protection is also expected to be released during the meeting.