Georgina Rannard<\/span>Climate and science reporter, Bel\u00e9m, Brazil<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n The world must “defeat” climate denialism and fight fake news, Brazil’s President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva has told the opening meeting of the UN climate talks. <\/p>\n In a rallying cry to COP30, President Lula again made thinly veiled references to President Donald Trump who branded climate change “a con job” in September.<\/p>\n The two weeks of talks kicked off on Monday in the lush Brazilian city of Bel\u00e9m on the edge of the Amazon rainforest.<\/p>\n They take place against a fraught political backdrop and the US has sent no senior officials.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n On Monday thousands of delegates poured into the COP venue in a heavily air-conditioned former aerodrome, some coming from accommodation in shipping containers and cruise ships moored on the riverside.<\/p>\n Members of the Guajajara indigenous group, in traditional dress, performed a welcome song and dance for assembled diplomats.<\/p>\n Addressing the conference, President Lula said “COP30 will be the COP of truth” in an era of “fake news and misrepresentation” and “rejection of scientific evidence”.<\/p>\n Without naming President Trump, President Lula continued, “they control the algorithms, sow hatred and spread fear”.<\/p>\n “It’s time to inflict a new defeat on the deniers,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Since President Trump took office in January, he has promised to invest heavily in fossil fuels, saying that this will secure greater economic prosperity for the US.<\/p>\n His administration has cancelled more than $13bn of funding for renewable energy and is taking steps to open up more areas of the US to oil and gas exploration.<\/p>\n That puts the country at odds with the majority of nations still committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and investing in green energy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This backdrop has put the COP talks in a difficult position as nations aim to make progress on tackling climate change without the participation of the world’s biggest economy.<\/p>\n Some delegates fear that the US could still decide to send officials to undermine the talks. Other environmental talks collapsed this year following US pressure, labelled “bully-boy tactics” by some participants.<\/p>\n Addressing officials in Bel\u00e9m, UN climate chief Simon Stiell initially struck an optimistic tone. He said significant progress had been made in the last decade to reduce emissions of planet-warming gases.<\/p>\n But then he took aim at “squabbling” between countries.<\/p>\n “Not one single nation among you can afford this, as climate disasters rip double-digits off GDP,” he said.<\/p>\n Brazil wants to use its presidency of the talks to secure progress on key promises made in previous years.<\/p>\n That includes moving away from the use of planet-warming fossil fuels, finance for developing countries on the frontline of climate change, and protecting nature.<\/p>\n President Lula’s centrepiece is a fund called the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) that Brazil hopes will raise $125bn to protect tropical forests globally.<\/p>\n Fund-raising got off to a slow start. Last week UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, at the last minute, that the UK would not contribute public money.<\/p>\n But on Monday, UK climate envoy Rachel Kyte told BBC News that the fund was a “brilliant idea” and that the UK “will make the investment at some point”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n After a fight, nations finally agreed a conference agenda on Monday.<\/p>\n It promises to consider the question of whether countries can still work towards keeping global temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.<\/p>\n Groups on the frontline of climate change, including coalition called Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) that mostly represents Caribbean and Pacific countries, had insisted the talks address the long-held goal.<\/p>\n In recent weeks even the UN has said it accepts that overshooting this temperature is “inevitable”.<\/p>\n Last week UN General Secretary General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres told leaders in Bel\u00e9m that the failure to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C was a “moral failure and deadly negligence”.<\/p>\n Additional reporting by Esme Stallard<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Shutterstock](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/bd8e\/live\/bcee2270-be66-11f0-8456-eff94716b162.jpg.webp\")
Shutterstock<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/static.files.bbci.co.uk\/bbcdotcom\/web\/20251105-121702-1a3e907763-web-2.33.1-3\/grey-placeholder.png\")
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Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n![\"UNFCC](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/d2a3\/live\/85d09540-be3c-11f0-8669-5560f5c90fbe.jpg.webp\")
UNFCC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n