COP30 in Belém: At the Heart of the Amazon, the Planet Seeks New Life

Belém (Brazil), November 6, 2025 —
Amidst the humid heat of the Amazon, the thirtieth Conference of the Parties (COP30) opens this November 6, 2025, in Belém, in a climate of planetary urgency. Thirty years after the first COP held in Berlin, the world gathers once again to try to reinvent climate cooperation, at a time when the planet is showing its most severe symptoms: extreme heatwaves, chronic droughts, giant fires, and repeated floods. From November 6 to 21, 2025, the Hangar Convention Center of the Amazon hosts representatives from 197 signatory countries of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). COP30 is also the 20th session of the Kyoto Protocol and the 7th session of the Conference of the Parties to the Paris Agreement. But beyond the figures and protocols, this conference holds particular significance: it is being held in the heart of the world's largest tropical forest, a vital lung for global climate balance. For Brazil, which claims a leading role in environmental diplomacy, this event is a platform to demonstrate that the protection of the Amazon rainforest can become a source of prosperity and not a hindrance to development. From the outset, Brazil's President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, set the tone by launching the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, an innovative mechanism aimed at making forest preservation more profitable than their destruction. “It is time for the planet to compensate those who protect its lungs,” Lula declared, emphasizing the need to “reward life rather than deforestation.” This initiative, welcomed by UN Climate Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, is seen as a concrete turning point in the fight against climate change. It proposes to guarantee sustainable and predictable funding for tropical countries, to compensate for non-deforestation and support local communities. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres also applauded the measure, calling it “a declaration of solidarity and hope.” Present in Belém with a delegation led by Cardinal Secretary of State of Vatican City, Pietro Parolin, Vatican diplomacy strives to refocus the debate on ethical and human grounds. The Apostolic Nuncio to Brazil, Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro, quoted Pope Francis: “A concrete sign of hope must be given. May this COP be a turning point: may it demonstrate a clear and tangible political will, leading to a significant acceleration of the ecological transition.” The Holy See advocates for an “integral ecology,” linking nature protection to social justice, and insists on the role of women, youth, and indigenous peoples in this global transformation. COP30 must also address an explosive issue: the financing of the climate transition. Developing countries denounce a lack of ambition from rich nations, who have not honored their financial promises made in Baku during COP29. The 300 billion dollars per year promised to support vulnerable nations by 2035 seem largely insufficient given the scale of climate disasters. Several Southern states, supported by the Holy See, are calling for a reform of the global financial architecture, to transform ecological debt into sustainable investments. “Those who have polluted the least cannot continue to pay the heavy price for disasters they did not cause,” recalled the Ghanaian Minister of Environment, in a speech applauded by many African delegations. This conference is taking place in a tense international context: the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement, a global energy crisis, the rise of climate-skeptic movements, an intense nuclear arms race, and a slowdown in green investments. The surge in prices in Belém and the lack of accommodation have already led several modest delegations to reduce their participation, raising the question of climate justice even in the logistics of the conference. Unlike previous conferences marked by spectacular announcements, the Brazilian presidency is focusing on concrete action. The objective is to translate existing commitments into measurable actions, particularly in the areas of:

1. the gradual phasing out of fossil fuels
2. a just energy transition
3. the protection of essential ecosystems
4. and climate education

Thirty years after the first COP, the Belém conference could mark the return of multilateral cooperation in a fragmented world. Between scientific urgency and political inertia, the planet is playing a decisive game: that of its survival. In the beating heart of the Amazon, peoples, forests, and science call for a single breath: that of a renewed alliance between nations and nature, before it is too late.