Brazil calls for global effort to tackle climate emergency | Environment

“If global warming is not controlled, change will be imposed on us, destabilizing our societies, economies, and families. Conversely, if we choose to organize ourselves in collective action, we have the opportunity to rewrite a different future,” he added.

The term chosen to represent the movement of COP30 is “mutirão,” a highly symbolic word in Brazil meaning joint effort that encapsulates the country’s appeal for national and subnational governments, societies, and economic actors to come together in Belém to cooperate and tackle the civilizational challenge in a fragmented world facing turbulent geopolitical times.

“The Brazilian culture inherited from Brazilian native indigenous peoples the concept of ‛mutirão’ (motirõ in the Tupi-Guarani language). It refers to a community coming together to work on a shared task, whether harvesting, building, or supporting one another,” the letter states. “By sharing this invaluable ancestral wisdom and social technology, the incoming COP30 presidency invites the international community to join Brazil in a global mutirão against climate change, a global effort of cooperation among peoples for the progress of humanity.”

The 12-page letter provides a brief history of international negotiations, describes today’s geopolitical upheaval and outlines the Brazilian vision for COP30. This is a traditional practice followed by the last presidents of climate COPs to prepare governments for the path the host country intends to take during the UN climate conference.

“COP30 can be the COP we align efforts worldwide: from national to local governments, from international capital markets to local bazars, from major technology actors to local innovators, from academic to traditional knowledges,” the letter states.

The situation is so critical that the letter calls on the UN for a “new alliance against a common enemy: climate change.” It notes that 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the alliance that created the UN.

“German-American philosopher Hannah Arendt denounced the “banality of evil” as the acceptance of what was unacceptable. Now, we face the ‛banality of inaction,’ an irresponsible and unacceptable inaction,” highlights one of the letter’s most striking passages.

“The idea is to convey the presidency’s initial assessment of what lies ahead for COP30. We are experiencing a climate emergency, the international moment is very complex, but there are three guiding vertices for the presidency,” Mr. Corrêa do Lago told a group of journalists. “”he first is to defend and strengthen the multilateralism built in the Paris Agreement and the Climate Convention,” he began.

The second aspect will be to create a stronger connection between what is being negotiated, often seen as abstract by society, and how to translate it into people’s lives, politics, and the economy. “We need to translate COP decisions into actions,” he explained.

The third front will be to “accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Almost all the major topics needed for the Paris Agreement to be fully structured have been negotiated, and we are now entering a phase where implementation is central,” continued the diplomat.

This COP in Brazil is the first ever to be held in the Amazon, as well as the first since global temperature increases surpassed 1.5 degrees Celsius, noted COP30 CEO Ana Toni. Brazil will attempt to drive the action agenda, parallel to the actual negotiations conducted exclusively between national governments.

Among its proposals for action, Brazil will push for conserving and recovering the environment, and fighting deforestation. It will also highlight solutions for cities and energy, climate change and artificial intelligence, and other fronts.

The negotiation agenda must lay down the Roadmap from Baku to Belém “of the 1.3T.” In other words, how the world can reach 2025 with annual resources of $1.3 trillion from various sources to drive decarbonization in the developing world.

“And we must make the general public believe in this agenda again, for the common good. And respond to today’s trend of thinking that investing in climate change is bad for the economy. It is not. Combating climate change does not worsen people’s lives; on the contrary, it improves them,” continued the president of COP30.n presidency of COP30, the United Nations climate conference to be held in Belém this November, is calling for unity in addressing the climate emergency. “Change is inevitable—whether by choice or catastrophe,” stated Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago, president of COP30, in a letter to the international community released on Monday at an event in Brasília.

“If global warming is not controlled, change will be imposed on us, destabilizing our societies, economies, and families. Conversely, if we choose to organize ourselves in collective action, we have the opportunity to rewrite a different future,” he added.

The term chosen to represent the movement of COP30 is “mutirão,” a word without a direct translation in other languages but symbolic, encapsulating Brazil’s appeal for national and subnational governments, societies, and economic actors to come together in Belém to cooperate and tackle the civilizational challenge in a fragmented world facing turbulent geopolitical times.

“Brazilian culture inherited from the native indigenous peoples of Brazil the concept of ‘mutirão’ (‘Motirõ’ in Tupi-Guarani), which refers to a community gathering to work on a shared task, whether harvesting, building, or supporting each other,” the letter states. “By sharing this invaluable ancestral wisdom and social technology, the COP30 presidency invites the international community to join Brazil in a global ‘mutirão’ against climate change, a global effort of cooperation among peoples for the advancement of humanity.”

The 12-page letter provides a brief history of international negotiations, places the geopolitical context in upheaval, and outlines the Brazilian presidency’s vision for COP30. This is a traditional practice followed by the last presidents of climate COPs to prepare governments for the path the host country intends to take during the United Nations climate conference.

“COP30 could be the conference where we align efforts worldwide: from national governments to municipalities, from international capital markets to small neighborhood shops, from major technological players to local innovators, from academic knowledge to traditional wisdom,” the text states.

The situation is so critical that the letter calls on the United Nations for a “new alliance against a common enemy: climate change.” It notes that 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the alliance that created the United Nations.

“German-American philosopher Hannah Arendt condemned the ‘banality of evil’ as the acceptance of the unacceptable. Now, we are facing the ‘banality of inaction,’ an irresponsible and unacceptable inaction,” highlights one of the letter’s most striking passages.

“The idea is to convey the presidency’s initial assessment of what lies ahead for COP30. We are experiencing a climate emergency, the international moment is very complex, but there are three guiding vertices for the presidency,” Corrêa do Lago told a group of journalists. “The first is to defend and strengthen the multilateralism built in the Paris Agreement and the Climate Convention,” he began.

The second aspect will be to create a stronger connection between what is being negotiated, often seen as abstract by society, and how to translate it into people’s lives, politics, and the economy. “We need to translate COP decisions into actions,” he explained.

The third front will be to “accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Almost all the major topics needed for the Paris Agreement to be fully structured have been negotiated, and we are now entering a phase where implementation is central,” continued the diplomat.

COP in Brazil is the first in the Amazon and the first where the world has surpassed a temperature increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius, noted Ana Toni, CEO of COP30. Brazil will attempt to drive the action agenda, parallel to the actual negotiations conducted exclusively between national governments.

In the action agenda, Brazil will push for the movement to conserve, recover what has been lost, and combat deforestation of forests. It will also highlight solutions for cities and energy, climate change and artificial intelligence, and other fronts.

The negotiation agenda must initiate the Roadmap from Baku to Belém “of the 1.3T.” In other words, how the world can reach 2025 with annual resources of US$1.3 trillion from various sources to drive decarbonization in the developing world.