BELEM: A breach, a blockade, and a blaze: tumultuous UN climate talks head into their final day Friday in the Brazilian Amazon, with countries still sharply split over fossil fuels.
At stake at COP30 is nothing less than proving that international cooperation can still function in a fractured world — and delivering a text that nudges the planet back toward the critical 1.5C long-term warming target, despite the absence of President Donald Trump’s United States.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has branded it the “COP of truth,” investing significant political capital in its success and defending his choice to hold it in Belem, despite concerns over inadequate infrastructure that have plagued the hot, humid city on the edge of the world’s largest rainforest.
Delegates are set to resume their negotiations after a dramatic fire on Thursday torched a hole through the fabric ceiling of the COP30 venue, forcing a panicked evacuation.
It was the third major incident since the summit began at the COP30 compound, located on the site of an old airport and made up of enormous, air-conditioned tents alongside permanent structures.
