UN scolds nations for failing climate goals at Brazil meet

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tore into nations for their failure to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as Brazil hosted world leaders for a summit ahead of the COP3O climate conference in the rainforest city of Belem.

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Scientists have confirmed the world is set to cross the 1.5°C warming threshold around 2030, risking extreme warming with irreversible consequences.

“Too many corporations are making record profits from climate devastation, with billions spent on lobbying, deceiving the public and obstructing progress,” Guterres said in his speech.

“Too many leaders remain captive to these entrenched interests.”

“We have failed to ensure we remain below 1.5 degrees’, Guterres told the gathering of leaders in the rainforest city of Belem in northern Brazil.

“This is moral failure -- and deadly negligence” but that did not mean all hope was lost, he added.

Countries are spending about $1 trillion each year in subsidising fossil fuels.

Leaders have two clear options, Guterres said:

“We can choose to lead - or be led to ruin.”

In his opening address, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of COP30 said the window to prevent calamitous climate change was “closing rapidly” and blasted the “extremist forces” condemning future generations.

The United States is not participating, with President Donald Trump branding climate science a “con job.”

The COP3O conference marks three decades since global climate negotiations began. In that time, countries have curbed the projected climb in emissions somewhat, but not enough to prevent what scientists consider extreme global warming in the next few decades.