COP30 Opens in Brazil with 56,000 Delegates

BELÉM, Brazil – The United Nations COP30 climate summit opened Monday in the Amazonian city of Belém, drawing more than 56,000 delegates from nearly 200 countries and organizations to advance global efforts against rising temperatures. Hosted by Brazil, the two-week conference focuses on strengthening emissions reductions, building climate resilience and ensuring an equitable energy transition, amid calls for urgent collective action.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva kicked off the proceedings with a plea to counter climate denial fueled by misinformation. "COP30 will be the COP of truth," Lula told delegates. "In the year of fake news and misinformation, the obscurantists reject not only scientific evidence, but also the international progress." He highlighted the summit's location on the Amazon's edge to underscore the warming's impacts on vulnerable ecosystems and communities, noting that recent extreme weather events, including Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean, typhoons in Vietnam and the Philippines, and a tornado in southern Brazil, demonstrate the crisis as a present reality rather than a future threat.

A new United Nations assessment released Monday showed...