‘The world is watching’: Guterres and Lula urge unity as COP30 talks near deadline

This article is published in association with United Nations.

With the clock ticking on climate negotiations in Belém, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, speaking separately, delivered a united message: the world is watching, and compromise cannot wait.

Amid reports of deadlocks on fossil fuels, climate finance and other key issues, both leaders urged negotiators to act decisively on phasing out fossil fuels and boosting adaptation finance, insisting that fairness and ambition must guide the final hours of COP30.

Guterres: 1.5°C is the ‘non-negotiable red line’

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Mr. Guterres urged countries to “follow the science and put people before profit,” calling for tripling adaptation finance and credible emissions cuts. “Ministers and negotiators must show leadership, boldness and good faith,” he said, stressing that 1.5°C remains “the only non-negotiable red line.”

He warned that an agreement must balance concerns over adaptation resources with the need to curb soaring emissions. For millions, he said, adaptation means “the difference between replanting or going hungry, between remaining on ancestral land or losing it forever.”

© UNFCCC/Kiara Worth

The UN Secretary-General António Guterres (centre) reviews documents with his colleagues at the UN Climate Conference in Brazil.

On fossil fuels, the UN chief called for a “just, orderly and equitable” transition, as agreed at COP28. “There can be no solution if there is not, at the same time, a just transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy,” he said, urging an end to “market distortions that favour fossil fuels” and disinformation “designed to sabotage the transition.”

A few hours after the Secretary-General’s press briefing, a fire broke out in a pavilion at the COP30 venue in Belém, forcing evacuations and briefly disrupting tense negotiations. Brazilian and UN security teams assisted in clearing the area. The blaze was quickly brought under control, and no injuries were reported. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. More here.

Lula: ‘We must start thinking about how to live without fossil fuels’

At a press conference Wednesday night, President Lula said any roadmap for the energy transition “must be taken seriously.” Brazil introduced the idea of a roadmap, he explained, “because we need to show society that we are serious. We do not want to impose anything on anyone, nor set deadlines. Each country must decide what it can do within its own timeframe and capacities.”

He added: “If fossil fuels generate [a majority of greenhouse] emissions, we must start thinking about how to live without them – and how to build that path. And I say this very comfortably, as the leader of a country that has oil, that extracts five million barrels a day.”

President Lula highlighted Brazil’s use of ethanol and biodiesel and called for oil companies, mining firms and the “super-rich” to contribute their share. He urged multilateral banks to stop charging “exorbitant interest rates” to African nations and the poorest countries in Latin America, converting part of those debts into investments.

The President praised public engagement at COP30, noting the 15 November ‘Peoples March’ was “exceptionally beautiful and orderly,” and celebrated record participation of 3,500 Indigenous people and “full participation” of women.

UN News is reporting from Belém, bringing you front-row coverage of everything unfolding at COP30.