With great grandeur, the 30th Conference of Parties (COP 30) has started in Belém, Brazil. But when I look at the recent climate reports, I notice, somehow or other almost all of those communicate one thing – that is although the world is moving towards the right direction, the pace of remedial actions is very slow, and if it continues in this way then it will not be possible to limit the global temperature rise within 1.5 deg C.
To be more specific, let me cite a few opinions here. A recent report (State of Climate Action 2025) published under Systems Change Lab; which is the outcome of a joint effort of Bezos Earth Fund, Climate Analytics, ClimateWorks Foundation, the Climate High-Level Champions and World Resources Institute; states that – while most are heading in the right direction, the pace and scale of progress are alarmingly inadequate – exposing communities, economies and ecosystems to unacceptable risks. From protecting forests to phasing out coal and ending public finance for fossil fuels, the world is failing to act fast enough to combat the climate crisis and secure a livable future.
While delivering his speech at the opening of the COP 30, President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said, “This lesson in human greatness, proving that if the men who wage war were at this COP, they would realize that it is far cheaper to dedicate 1.3 trillion dollars to solving a problem than to spend 2 trillion and 7 billion dollars on waging war, as they did last year.”
Again, when I follow the speech of Ambassador Andre Correa do Lago, President of COP 30, I find, he says, “I deeply believe that the human being is essentially good, but we also know that he is capable of terrible things, such as war, which, unfortunately, has again come close to so many people…”
Thus, whether we will be able to control the global temperature rise below 1.5 deg C or not – to a great extent, that is depending on the next turn of geopolitics.
Pravita Iyer
Publisher & Director
