Fighting fake news and climate diseases, Brazil’s Lula speaks at UN talks

The world must “defeat” climate change and fight Fake News, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said at the opening meeting of the UN CLIMATE Dialogue.

In a rallying cry at Cop30, President Lula once again made clear references to President Donald Trump who labeled climate change “A CON JOB” in September.

The two weeks of talks kicked off on Monday in the lush Brazilian city of Belém on the edge of the Amazon Rainforest.

They did so against a fraught political backdrop and the US did not send senior officials.

On Monday, thousands of delegates poured into the air-conditioned area of ​​the former Aerodrome, some from cruise containers and cruise ships that were transferred to the river.

Members of the Guajajara indigenous group, in traditional dress, performed a welcome song and dance for the assembled diplomats.

Speaking at the conference, President Lula said that “Cop30 will be the police of truth” in an era of “fake news and misinformation” and “rejection of scientific evidence”.

Without Trump President Trump, continued President Lula, “They control the algorithms, sewing hatred and spreading fear”.

“It is time to impose a new defeat on the deniers,” he said.

Since President Trump took office in January, he promised to invest more in fossil fuels, saying it would save more economic prosperity for the US.

His administration canceled more than $13BN in funding for renewable energy and took steps to open up more US oil and gas exploration.

That puts the country among the most countries that have been reducing greenhouse gas emissions and investing in green energy.

This backdrop speaks to a difficult position as countries aim to improve progress on climate change without the participation of the world’s largest economy.

Some delegates fear that the US may still decide to send officials to undermine the talks. Other environmental talks have collapsed this year following US pressure, labeled “bully-boy tactics” by some participants.

Responding to officials in Belém, UN Climate Chief Simon Stiell at first enabled an optimistic tone. He said that significant progress has been made in the last decade to reduce emissions of gases that warm the planet.

But then he pointed to the “encroachment” between the nations.

“Not one country among you can afford it, as climate disasters double the GDP,” he said.

Brazil wants to use its presidency of the talks to secure progress on the main promises made in previous years.

That includes transitioning from the use of fossil fuels, development of countries in the line of climate change, and protection of the environment.

President Lula’s center is a fund called the Tropical Forest Fest Facility

But the development of the fund got off to a slow start, especially after the UK decided at the last minute not to share the money with the public.

Countries still need to agree on the conference agenda.

The countries with interests pointed out for new things to be added, including a request from a coalition called the Caribbean and Pacific countries of the sea and rising temperatures in the Caribbean

The group called on the police to discuss the long-term goal of keeping global temperatures below 1.5C.

But in recent weeks even the UN has said it accepts that an overshoot in this temperature is “inevitable”.

Last week the General Secretary General Anlónio Gerres told the leaders in Belém that the failure to increase the global temperature to 1.5C is a “moral failure and fatal negligence”.