World leaders gathered on Thursday in Belém, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, for a Climate Summit convened by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as a prelude to the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30).
This two-day high-level meeting brings together heads of state and government, ministers, and representatives from international organizations across 153 delegations, including Morocco’s, to discuss the urgent challenges posed by climate change and the necessary commitments to address them.
In his opening remarks, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged countries to exhibit leadership in the face of the climate crisis and to turn the page on fossil fuels.
“We can choose to lead, or be led to our demise,” he warned solemnly during this meeting held just days before the official negotiations of COP30 begin (10-21 November).
Acknowledging a collective failure to limit global warming to 1.5 °C—the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement—Guterres emphasized, however, that “we have never been better equipped to counterattack,” praising advances in the development of renewable energies, particularly wind and solar.
Following Guterres, President Lula da Silva called on the international community to “make Belém the COP of truth,” urging global leaders to “take scientific warnings seriously” and to “confront the reality of climate warming with courage and determination.”
“More than thirty years after the Earth Summit in Rio, the Climate Convention returns to the country where it was born,” he reminded attendees, highlighting the symbolic significance of choosing Belém, “in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, a global symbol of environmental causes.”
For Lula, this meeting also serves as a call to place international cooperation above geopolitical rivalries. He warned against the rise of extremisms and conflicts that divert attention and resources from the fight against climate warming, asserting that “the climate crisis cannot be contained without overcoming inequalities between nations and within them.”
He advocated for a new development model that is “fairer, more resilient, and low-carbon,” stressing the need to “overcome the disconnect between diplomatic lounges and the real world” and to place “the fight against climate change at the center of the decisions of every government, every business, and every citizen.”
For the first time, a high-level preparatory meeting for the COP is taking place in the heart of the Amazon, an emblematic territory of the global climate emergency. The choice of Belém, the capital of the State of Pará, underscores the strategic role of the Amazon rainforest in regulating the global climate and in the quest for sustainable solutions.
The Belém Summit marks a key milestone in international dialogue on climate action and mobilizing funding for developing countries. It also aims to provide political momentum for COP30, scheduled for 10-21 November, which will make the Amazon the focal point of global climate negotiations.
The agenda includes three thematic sessions reflecting the main themes of COP: “Climate and Nature – Forests and Oceans,” “Energy Transition,” and “Ten Years of the Paris Agreement – Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Financing.”
Morocco, which recently submitted its new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0) for the period 2026-2035, is participating in this meeting through an official delegation, showcasing its ongoing commitment to the fight against climate change.
NDC 3.0 establishes the Kingdom’s new ambition in implementing the Paris Agreement and Decision 1/CP.21, by strengthening its mitigation and adaptation targets.
The conclusions of the Summit are expected to feed into the discussions at COP30, particularly concerning climate financing, through the launch of the Eternal Tropical Forests Fund (TFFF) aiming to mobilize $25 billion—of which one billion has already been contributed by Brasília—and the “From Baku to Belém” roadmap, which aims to mobilize $1.3 trillion per year by 2035 for developing countries, while rebalancing funding between mitigation and adaptation.
MAP Ecology
