On Monday, the 30th UN World Climate Conference (COP30) was officially opened in Belém, Brazil. Belém is known as the gateway to the Amazon and offers a particularly symbolic venue. Even so: after 30 years of climate conferences and ten years of the Paris Climate Agreement, the aim is to leave the era of symbolic politics behind — and move from negotiating to acting. Given the scale of the challenges ahead, that's quite an ambitious goal.

"Enough talk, now it's time to implement what we've agreed", appealed Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to the international community ahead of COP. In a guest article for international media, he wrote: "The era of fine speeches and good intentions is over." COP30 would be defined by effective action: with real commitments instead of empty promises, and action plans instead of declarations of intent.

The world has travelled to Brazil once before to deliberate on a sustainable future: in 1992, for the first major international environmental conference, the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. "More than three decades later, the world returns to Brazil to face up to climate change", said Lula. Around 50,000 participants from nearly 200 countries are expected to attend.

An unwelcome guest feared

For two weeks, government delegates will be discussing the next steps in implementing the Paris Climate Agreement — that is, how global warming can be kept to well below two degrees by the year 2100 — or ideally to 1.5 degrees…

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