UN climate conference host Brazil urges nations to negotiate, find solutions to global warming

With a direct letter sent to nations, host country Brazil is shifting the UN climate conference into a higher gear.

The letter sent late Monday comes during the final week of what has been billed as a historic climate summit, the first ever in the Amazon rainforest, a key regulator of climate because trees absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that warms the planet.

The letter comes ahead of speeches of high-level ministers on Tuesday. Headliners include representatives from influential European countries like Ed Miliband, energy secretary of the United Kingdom, and Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands Sophie Hermans.

More leaders will also speak from small island states and developing countries like Barbados and Bangladesh, both facing loss of land as seas rise because of climate change.

The letter asks leaders to hash out many aspects of a potential agreement by Tuesday night so that much is out of the way before the final set decisions Friday, when the conference is scheduled to end.

Climate summits routinely go past their last day, as all nations come to the negotiating table trying to balance domestic concerns with major shifts needed around the world to protect the environment and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Brazil’s guidance for the summit, called COP30, is raising hopes for significant measures to fight global warming, which could range from a road map to move away from fossil fuels like oil and coal, or more money to help nations build out clean energies like wind and solar.

For negotiators, Brazil’s letter will mean later nights as they seek to strike political bargains across a host of contentious issues.

“There are important concessions we expect from all sides,” said André Corrêa do Lago, COP30 president. “It is said you have to give to receive.”

That Wednesday timeline is “pretty ambitious” and the stakes are high, said Alden Meyer, a senior associate at climate think tank E3G.

“Whether it’s dealing with the impacts of climate change, dealing with increased energy bills and energy insecurity, improving health, creating jobs. Those are the things that people care about. They don’t care about some sub-paragraph in a legal decision adopted here in Belem,” Meyer said.

“Brazil, the presidency, has made that very clear since the beginning, that that’s going to be the litmus test.”

He added that the optimistic spirit of the host country “is starting to get a little infectious” and that that is part of building trust and goodwill amongst nations.

“I sense ambition here. I sense a determination,” former German climate envoy Jennifer Morgan said Monday morning.