the DON JONES INDEX…
	GAINS POSTED in GREEN LOSSES POSTED in RED 11/20/25… 15,403.98 11/13/25… 15,345.30 6/27/13... 15,000.00
(THE DOW JONES INDEX: 11/20/25... 46,138.77 ; 11/13/25... 48,254.82; 6/27/13… 15,000.00)

LESSON for NOVEMBER 20th, 2025 – “BAD COP30 – NO DONUT, (and NO AMERICANS…)!”

November’s been a very busy month. The standoff between America’s left and right over maintenance of food and healthcare for the poor led to a shutdown of most of the entire Federal Governmen (a few national security departments exempted) and Democrats... eventually, also, more than a few Republicans... denounced distractions from an increasingly dictatorial regime. These descended downwards from the national economy (Presidential Tariff wars inciting inflation), to foreign adventurism (dispatching a flotilla of military vessels including the battleship U.S.S. Gerald Ford) in potential preparation for war with Venezuela – and/or Colombia – perhaps also with Canada, Mexico and... who knows?

Beneath the trouble tribulations of war, economy and corruption repose the vast sewer of tabloid tricks and toxic treats... none more malodorous than the seemingly bottomless pit of papers as won’t go away no matter how many times you say that name...

“Epstein! Epstein! Epstein!”

COP? WHAT COP??

Amidst all the furor who cares if the Earth is dying; that droughts and floods convulse the panosphere – that... and this is true, below... those artists, scientists and intellectuals self-appointed to prominence and proximity to days after tomorrow... were absolutely gleeful that no Americans were on hand. Well, a few tourists and out-of-favor politicians seeking notoriety (or money), but nobody official. No migrant hunting military on COP30. No cops, no raindrowbops – not even Marco Rubio.

The American President might disagree, the coffee people sweating and counting beans and ex-Brazilian President also sweating over the prospect of 27 years for corruption – but delegates to the infamous international conference were relieved to be doing business in a sort-of democracy, after previous COPs in authoritarian Azerbaijan, the Arab Emirates and Egypt.

And who else was conspicuous in their absence?

The American media!

Nearly 4,000 members of the media registered to attend the global climate conference, known as Cop30, according to a preliminary list released by the United Nations climate body on Tuesday. But none of the “big four” US broadcasters – CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox – appear to currently have teams present at the talks,” the liberal Guardian U.K. reported a week ago (ATTACHMENT ONE).

“In a review of TV coverage of Cop30 shared exclusively with the Guardian, the non-profit Media Matters found that weekday morning and evening national news shows on ABC, CBS and NBC had not covered Cop30 from 6 November through 11 November. Fox News aired two segments that totalled roughly five minutes of coverage, one of which promoted “anti-climate narratives”, Media Matters said.”

This year, the US has failed to send a delegation to the UN climate talks for the first time. Donald Trump, who calls climate action a “scam”, pulled the US from the Paris climate agreement in January.

But the absence of US officials should not be an excuse to ignore the talks, said Stefano Wrobleski, director of InfoAmazonia, a non-profit independent media outlet focused on the Amazonian region.

“News is still happening here,” he told GUK. “It’s not as though because Trump isn’t here, because the US didn’t send a delegation, this is not newsworthy.”

“Most climate journalists I’ve spoken with privately want to be here – it’s their newsroom managers and corporate bosses who’ve decided against it,” Mark Hertsgaard, executive director of the New York-based Covering Climate Now, told the Guardian. “The rationale is usually budgets – it costs money to fly journalists to Belém, house them, etc.”

News budgets are shrinking in the US amid slowed advertising growth (see e-marketer’s diagnosis below), but “how newsrooms spend their limited budgets still reflects the editorial priorities of those newsrooms”, said Hertsgaard, who added that the scaling back comes amid visible evidence of the dangers of the climate crisis in recent weeks with the typhoon in the Philippines and Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica.

Logistical issues have made it difficult for some attending Cop30 to find affordable lodging. Joes in the know, however, believe the real problem is political. Climate reporting has been harshly affected by outlets’ staffing cuts... “last month, CBS reportedly laid off most of its climate team shortly after the arrival of its controversial new editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss,” while environmental reporters and editors have also been cut from from CNN and the LA Times, HuffPost and Vice – but MAGA intimidation of the media (as, for example, the kowtowing of Bezos and Gates, or President Trump’s acceptance of Saudi Prince Salman’s facile dismissal of the assassination of WashPost reporter Khashoggi - see yesterday’s “In the News”, further below) has worked wonders in nudging journalism ever closer to acceptance of his regime and denials of democracy... despite polls showing larger and larger slices of America are jumping off Trump’s crazy train.

“It would have been well worth the effort for outlets to send teams to the talks, Wrobleski said,” perhaps delusional, perhaps ignorant of the Yankee changes. “It’s the first COP in the Amazon, and the whole city is alive with Cop,” he said. “They’re missing a lot.”

Multiple forecasts are concerned about US advertising growth in 2025 as economic uncertainty grows, e-marketer reported, contra Hertsgaard... specifying, among other details...

“Our own forecast, which will be published later this month, will see US total ad spending growth of 6.3%, down from 7.5% in our previous (November) forecast.

“Ad spend is projected to rise just 3.6%—down from the previously forecasted 4.5%— according to a new forecast by Madison & Wall.

“The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) found that 94% of US advertisers are concerned about the impact of tariffs, and 45% plan to cut ad budgets as a result.

Facts and figures upon COP30 can be found, at least, at Wikipedia. The choice of Belem was made at COP27 in 2022, made official in 2023 and, in January 2025, Brazilian president Lula da Silva (whose displacement and prosecution of predecessor and Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro might have been one of the many reasons for America to kiss off the COP) appointed André Corrêa do Lago [pt] as the COP's president.^[7] “The decision was praised by Brazilian climate activists given Lago's history of leading climate justice discussions, among other things.^[8] Lago is a veteran diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a longtime climate negotiator.”

The WikiWitches did not fail to mention some of the nonpartisan problems as have angered not only the Americans but some Brazilians and have raised eyebrows across the global climate community.

The BBC reported that the summit has been used as a justification to build a new highway cutting through the rainforest.

Reports of extreme price gouging for lodging included listings on platforms like Airbnb priced as high as US $9,320 per day, up from a normal rate of $11, while a one-person flat on Booking.com was offered for $15,266 per night.^[18] These figures supported claims of widespread real estate speculation, with the Brazilian government itself describing prices as "extremely high and incomprehensible".^[19]

Consequently, some smaller, poorer nations (but even the ostensibly wealthy Austrians) chose to send smaller delegations or skip the COP entirely ^[23] while greedy landlords evicted Brazilians from their homes to rent them out to conference-goers.

As to conference issues to be discussed (without the Americans), one European aid charity, Christian Aid, stated that the three main outcomes they would be looking for were...

Agreement among developed country governments on "how they would provide the $300bn in climate finance that they committed to at COP29";

All governments to "commit to stopping new investments in fossil fuels" and to support a just mechanism allowing developed countries at national level to transition to low carbon economies in a “socially just way”; and

More ambitious commitments from countries aiming to go beyond their existing commitments and to submit suitably ambitious future climate change plans.

Wiki also took note of Woke-y provisions regarding women, indigenous peoples (as failed to deter protesters... below) and economic issues. deSilva particularly called for a fight against climate change "deniers."

"We live in a time when obscurantists reject scientific evidence and attack institutions,” he said. “It is time to deal another defeat to denial,"

A short history of the COPs was provided by the New Yorker (November 10^th, ATTACHMENT THREE). Surprisingly, given the present American official rejection of the risks of climate change, the sponsors and leaders tended to be Republicans and conservative who, at the time, took seriously the charge to “conserve”.

In 1992, President George H. W. Bush flew to Brazil to meet with delegates from more than a hundred and seventy countries who’d gathered in Rio de Janeiro to hammer out a global treaty on climate change. “When our children look back on this time and this place, they will be grateful that we met at Rio, and they will certainly be pleased with the intentions stated and the commitments made,” Bush said, shortly after signing the treaty. But, he added, “They will judge us by the actions we take from this day forward.”

The New Yorker compared and contrasted Bush with Trump, who called climate science “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” and he has set himself against all efforts to limit warming, at home and abroad - cancelling dozens of clean-energy projects (including some that were mostly finished), forcing coal-burning power plants due for retirement to remain open, and gutting the agencies that monitor changes to the oceans and atmosphere.

They also reported that, in the first six months of this year, “the cost of climate-related disasters in the U.S. set a new record: a hundred and one billion dollars. (Though the Trump Administration has stopped keeping track of such costs, the nonprofit group Climate Central has continued to gather the data.)”

Worldwide, every other week seems to bring a new climate-related crisis. “Hurricane Melissa, which roared across Jamaica, Cuba, and Haiti last month, exploded from a Category 1 storm to a Category 5 in less than a day.” Brazil has decided to allow oil drilling near the mouth of the Amazon. (Critics called the move “an act of sabotage against the COP”). And there is even a lethal drought in Iran, which may bring pleasure to politicos, but bids to expand into other areas of the volatile MidEast.

Former friends of the earth (upon which they have made a pile of money for themselves)... people like Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates... well, under subtle or direct pressure from the President, they have gone BACO or GACO.

Gates weighed in with a memo to COP delegates noting that the world’s poorest people are also the most vulnerable to the effects of rising temperatures. “But, he said, these people have more acute problems than warming—namely, being poor. Therefore, he argued, money now spent on reducing emissions would be better spent on encouraging economic growth: “Health and prosperity are the best defense against climate change.”

In response, New Yorker reporter Elizebeth Kolbert stated that the notion that you can alleviate suffering in a world of uncontrolled warming “isn’t just shortsighted, it edges toward magical thinking.”

GUK selected some of the more substantial developments from some of the more notable (or notorious) COPs as of three years ago (June 11, 2022, ATTACHMENT FOUR) beginning with the first “Conference of the Parties) in Berlin, 1995 and the first targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions at Kyoto in 1997. “But the US Congress would not ratify the treaty, which meant the protocol could not come into operation. Cops continued each following year but there seemed to be no way round the central political impasse.”

A breakthrough came in Buenos Aires in 2004, when Russia joined, but “China and the US continued to increase their carbon output throughout the 2000s, with China overtaking the US as the biggest source of emissions.” Washington, then under Bush Two would not budget until Bali in 2006 at which resolutions were proposed to take effect within three years; by Copenhagen, 2009, however, “it became apparent that a fully fledged new treaty was not going to happen” and officials tried to dampen expectations in the preceding months by making it clear that Copenhagen would produce only a “political declaration”.

“World leaders flying in for the final day of the conference were greeted by scenes of chaos;” Barack Obama and other leaders in the end “succeeded in signing up all of the world’s major emitters, including China, to agree targets on greenhouse gas emissions for 2020.”

Delayed by a year because of the Covid pandemic, Cop26 (Glasgow, 2021) “was always going to be a crucial Cop” and, in fact, a “fragile” agreement was reached on global heating – only to see plague, war in Ukraine, Trump 1.0 and failing economies imperil previous agreements as the delegats marched on to Egypt.

‘BELÉM IS THE TEST’

Since the GUK reportage, things have only gotten worse – especially in the U.S.

Whereas climate denialism manifested in the first four years of the Trump regime, it has only escalated with his restoration... the President dismissing climate change as “the greatest con job” in the world during his address to the United Nations General Assembly two months ago. (Reuters, ATTACHMENT FIVE)

Trump spoke for several minutes out of his near-hour speech on climate change during his address to the United Nations General Assembly, criticizing the European Union for reducing its carbon footprint, which he claimed has taken a toll on its economy, and warning countries that have invested heavily in renewable energy that their economies will suffer.

"It's the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion," Trump told the General Assembly. "All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong."

He added: "They were made by stupid people that have cost their country's fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success."

“Once Trump took office in January, the U.S. submitted its withdrawal for a second time from the Paris Agreement, a 2015 pact agreed by 195 countries to strive to keep global temperatures from rising beyond 1.5 C, leaving it in the company of only Yemen, Iran and Libya.”

His administration is carrying out an "energy dominance" agenda that focuses on producing and exporting oil, gas and coal, as well as nuclear, while sidelining renewable energy, which has become cost-competitive.

His remarks came the day before UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hosted a climate summit at the UN that will focus on countries' new climate action plans. (See Attachment Twenty Three, below)

"We have the most oil of any nation anywhere, oil and gas in the world, and if you add coal, we have the most of any nation in the world," the President said.

“It broke my heart.” Surangel Whipps, president of the tiny Pacific nation of Palau, said after Trump made his long and rambling speech, his first to the UN since his re-election, on 23 September. Palau, threatened by rising sea levels, floods and more intense storms, is home to nearly 20,000 people, all likely to be made refugees if global heating surpasses 1.5C for a prolonged period, a likelihood they are desperate to prevent.

“Whipps was prepared for fury and bombast from the US president, but what followed was shocking.” Trump’s rant on the climate crisis – a “green scam”, “the greatest con job ever perpetrated”, “predictions made by stupid people” – was an unprecedented attack on science and global action from a major world leader. (Guardian UK, November 9^th, ATTACHMENT SIX)

After years in which it appeared the world was beginning to act on the climate crisis, GUK’s Fiona Harvey reported that “a populist tide has swept in, turning back or threatening progress in many democracies.

“Trump’s words were just the most extreme expression of a global rightwing trend. In the EU, hard-right political groupings delayed key decisions on emissions targets, and are seeking further abandonment of climate action. The UK’s poll-topping Reform party openly embraces denial. In Argentina, Trump ally Javier Milei has taken his chainsaw to climate policy as well as the economy.”

As the UN climate summit, Cop30, began, with a packed schedule for the Brazilian hosts – “145 agenda items to be decided over two weeks, ranging from questions of cutting greenhouse gases, financial help for poor countries, the rights of Indigenous peoples, boosting clean energy and preserving the world’s forests,” GUK, among other media (although not in America, where disconcern appeared the order of the day – above) reported that the evidence of climate breakdown is gathering fast: “the record-breaking Hurricane Melissa that devastated Jamaica last month, temperatures climbing above 50C in the Middle East, and ocean temperatures soaring. Scientists have warned that the first of a series of “tipping points” – the bleaching of ocean corals – already appears to have been reached.”

“The Paris agreement is our mandate; Belém is the test,” says Ban Ki-moon, who was UN secretary general at the time of the Paris summit.

If so, the dropouts and flunkouts among the four largest global polluters carried the day.

Trump, of course, was not among the delegates (although individual Americans his Administration dismissed as rogues and renegades and political opportunists... like Gov. Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 candidate (Inside Climate, ATTACHMENT SEVEN)... were lurking about, holding press conferences and issuing statements that would not be detailed by their home country press. Nor was Vladimir Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine poured hundreds of billions in windfall profits into the coffers of the fossil fuel industry, which invested it in more fossil fuels. Russia, Saudi Arabia “and a few allies have a history of obstructing Cops, and Argentina may join them. There will be fights,” GUK predicted, “and possible wrecking tactics.”

Xi Jinping of China also did not go but promised further action to shift China to a green economy. India, too, skipped the summit, PM Narendra Modi still perhaps angry over “the harsh end to last year’s Cop – when India’s negotiators refused to accept what they regarded as an inadequate pledge of $300bn (£230bn) in climate finance from the rich world.”

Brazil, cognizant of the opposition, has declared it will focus on “renewable” (solar and wind) energy, its own Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF)... “reducing deforestation and providing finance for biodiversity conservation work”...and handouts to the Global South – whose Mohamed Adow, director of the Power Shift Africa thinktank, said: “These are not acts of charity – they are investments in a stable, livable planet.”

According to 1440 (ATTACHMENT EIGHT), most countries have failed to meet the commitments stated in previous COPs and, if global warming continues at its current pace, researchers project global temperatures will rise 2.5 to 2.9 degrees Celsius by the end of the century – which is, at least, down somewhat “from the up to 3.8 degrees Celsius predicted a decade ago. The UN expects global warming to cross the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold by 2035.”

COP30 opened on Monday, November 10^th with some, including the Brazilians, taking note of the boycott by Americans, Russians and – to a slightly less toxic effect - China, India and others whose attitudes range from skepticism to outright denialism as the march to conservatism (but not conservationism) presses on, suggesting that countries “focus on smaller efforts that do not need consensus, such as deforestation, after years of COP summits making lofty promises only to leave many unfulfilled.”

In this arena of COP30,” U.N. Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell told delegates from more than 190 countries attending, “your job here is not to fight one another – your job here is to fight this climate crisis, together.” (Reuters, 11/10, ATTACHMENT NINE)

Downsizing expectations to save the conference from chaos, if not combat... with, at least, most of the naysayers staying home, watching leaves turn colours in the Northern Hemisphere, Corrêa do Lago (Attachment Two, above) admitted that “...(r)ich countries have lost enthusiasm for combating the climate crisis while China is surging ahead in producing and using clean energy equipment.”

Just one of many instances where a world alternately frightened of Trump’s mercurial moods and disgusted by the American politicians’ policy of submission (Republicans) or weakness (Democrats) now seems to be turning to Beijing for moral, political and diplomatic leadership. Democracy might not be dead, yet, but those worried about the fate of the Earth, and other issues, are gravitating towards authoritarian solutions and problem solvers who, at least, are proposing things to do rather than whining: “Do something.”

“Somehow the reduction in enthusiasm of the global north is showing that the global south is moving,” do Lago told the non- (if not yet, wholly anti-) American media in Belém. “It is not just this year, it has been moving for years, but it did not have the exposure that it has now. (GUK, ATTACHMENT TEN)

“China is coming up with solutions that are for everyone, not just China,” he said. “Solar panels are cheaper, they’re so competitive [compared with fossil fuel energy] that they are everywhere now. If you’re thinking of climate change, this is good.”

Ilana Seid, Palau’s ambassador to the UN and a spokesperson for the Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis), said setting out a global pathway to deeper emissions cuts would be key. “Progress so far has been insufficient and we have to have a response,” she told the Guardian. “Otherwise, we don’t know where we are going.”

As the conference began, the Guardian revealed that one key climate pledge was already being undermined. At Cop26 in Glasgow in 2021, the UK, the US, the EU and other countries forged the global methane pledge, requiring a cut in methane of 30% by 2030. About 159 countries subsequently signed up.

Methane is a greenhouse gas 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, and is responsible for about a third of the warming recently recorded. Collectively, emissions from six of the biggest Glaswegian signatories – the US, Australia, Kuwait, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Iraq – are now 8.5% above the 2020 level.

“Kuwait and Australia have made progress on cutting their emissions,” GUK allowed, “but emissions from US oil and gas operations have increased by 18%.”

Antoine Rostand, the president of the satellite analysis company Kayrros, said: “Despite the promises made year after year, despite the worsening state of the climate, methane emissions are rising. Our analysis makes that painfully clear. Can we expect things to change? We must at least hope they do. The clock is ticking.”

The corporate interests, who have been winding the clock for decades, if not centuries, also tended to stay at home this COP – motivated by the American no-show into sending out drones – lobbyists whose expertise was in buttonholing (and occasionally bribing or even threatening) delegates.

Business attendance at the UN COP30 climate summit in Brazil was expected to be far narrower than in past years... no doubt because the heavy hitters realized that without Americans, Russians, Chinese and some of the other no-shows, little or nothing of substance was expected to be resolved (or even discussed).

Consequently, COP 30 was dominated by big Brazilian groups and multinational companies with Latin American operations and the few American enterprises sending more than a token observer or two, in addition to organizational lobbyists, tended to be... well... not sympathetic.

Headliner, if such can be ventured, was ExxonMobil chief executive Darren Woods; also on hand were Zurich Insurance chair Michel Liès and Natalie Adomait, the chief operating officer of Brookfield Asset Management’s renewable energy arm. while BlackRock, JPMorgan, Bank of America and HSBC sent either regional heads or sustainability executives. Tech sector speakers included public policy and LatAm heads for Amazon and Meta, as well as the Google chief sustainability officer Kate Brandt. Latin capitalists on hand represented big banks, big oil and big meat.

Given the negative polling on climate denialism in the United States and even worse numbers in the affluent West, there was now greater discussion of energy security and affordability, not sustainability alone, said Alicia Argüello, global head of sustainability at Hitachi. “Energy security is becoming top of the list. But the climate emergency is not going away.”

A senior bank executive who did not want to be identified said he was in São Paulo to see clients. Many companies were still pushing ahead with climate-related plans, he added, even if with less fanfare than before.

“I’m here because I want to do business,” he said. “I don’t see many examples of organisations saying ‘we were going to do this, and now we’re not’ . . . It’s just about getting on with it.”

“Standards,” the World Economic Forum (WEF) deduced were “the quiet hero” at COP30 - being (Yesterday, ATTACHMENT TWELVE) the “relevant tools and frameworks that make implementation more straightforward and action likely to happen,” the WEF opined.

“Measurement is the foundation of benchmarking progress and crunching the numbers on carbon emissions is one of the few solid processes available to help quantify, monitor and consequently address the emissions that are fuelling climate change,” WEF posited, so “...a strong, verifiable and fully accountable system for accurately measuring greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is vital to unlocking greater amounts of climate finance.”

The mathematicians, however, bumped up against populists from the Global South, including Melissa-battered Jamaica and other small island nations and impoverished countries demanding that the rest of the world stop talking and start acting. “Their message: Our lives are on the line,” they implored, petitioning one of the few American media megaliths on hand, the A.P. (November 17, ATTACHMENT THIRTEEN)

“We did not create this crisis, but we refuse to stand as victims,: said Matthew Samuda, the Jamaican economic growth minister. “We call on the global community, especially major emitters, to honor their commitments and safeguard the 1.5 degree threshold for Jamaica. This is survival. It’s about our people and their right to a safe and prosperous future.”

Armando Rodriguez Batista, Cuba’s environment and science minister, noted his country was also flooded by Melissa.

“Tomorrow it will be too late to do what we had to do a long time ago,” he said.

While many Americans knew of the damage in the Caribbean by Melissa, the paucity of non-sensational media coverage meant that Don and the family Jones were largely unaware of conditions in the rest of the world. Romanian Environment Minister Diana-Anda Buzoianu read the words of a victim of this year’s floods in her country and Seychelles Environment and Climate Minister Flavien Philomel Joubert said that “... (p)romises alone will not hold back the rising seas.”

“We are seeing the 1.5 (heat index) target disappear before our eyes,” said Tuvalu’s Environment and Climate Minister Maina Vakafua Talia, adding that for small islands “it is the line between our survival and loss.”

“Our very existence is at stake,” Mauritius Foreign Affairs Minister Dhananjay Ramful said. “A decade after the promises of the Paris Agreement, despite our good intentions, we realized that we have not done enough. ... Our planet demands action now.”

Still cleaning up from Melissa, Jamaican economic minister Samuda stated that: “Preliminary estimates place damages around $10 billion U.S., or approximately a third, or just under a third, of our GDP. No small island state can absorb losses of this magnitude. Excellencies, Jamaicans are resilient, but resilience must not be defined as surviving the unbearable. We did not create this crisis, but we refuse to stand as victims. We choose action.” (Democracy Now, November 18^th, ATTACHMENT FOURTEEN)

Speaking on behalf of rich and poor nations alike, Pope Leo weighed in on the climate crisis by sending a video appeal to Brazil that began by hailing the Paris Agreement (adopted in 2015 at COP21, but subsequently dumped by Trump) as “our strongest tool for protecting people and the planet.

"Creation is crying out in floods, droughts, storms and relentless heat," Pope Leo said. (Angelus, November 18, ATTACHMENT FIFTEEN)

"True leadership means service, and support at a scale that will truly make a difference," the pope said. "Stronger climate actions will create stronger and fairer economic systems. Strong climate actions and policies -- both are an investment in a more just and stable world.

"We are guardians of creation, not rivals for its spoils," the pope said. "Let us send a clear global signal together: nations standing in unwavering solidarity behind the Paris Agreement and behind climate cooperation."

Reuters (also on Tuesday, ATTACHMENT SIXTEEN) added the Pope’s belief that change hasn’t occurred – not because COP is failing, but because "...we are failing in our response," Leo said without naming names (although delegates knew he was talking about his own homeland). "What is failing is the political will of some."

Reuters cited “new dynamics in climate diplomacy” as has seen China, India and other developing nations flex more muscle this year, “while the European Union is hobbled by weakening support back home and the once-dominant United States has skipped out altogether.”

Some improvement has been noted – notably in Denmark, “which announced a new binding target to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 82% by 2035, compared with 1990 levels,” and South Korea, announcing it “would stop building new coal plants and phase out nearly two-thirds of existing ones by 2040.”

Still, a “damning new report by Amnesty International”, shared exclusively with the Guardian U.K. (Wednesday, Nov. 12^th ATTACHMENT SEVENTEEN), found that more than 18,300 oil, gas and coal sites are currently distributed across 170 countries worldwide, occupying a vast area of the Earth’s surface.

“Proximity to drilling wells, processing plants, pipelines and other fossil fuel facilities elevates the risk of cancer, respiratory conditions, heart disease, premature birth and death, as well as posing grave threats to water supplies and air quality, and degrades land.”

AI’s report (“Extraction Extinction: Why the Lifecycle of Fossil Fuels Threatens Life, Nature, and Human Rights”) added that “almost half a billion (463 million) people, including 124 million children, now live within 0.6 miles (1km) of fossil fuels sites, while another 3,500 or so new sites are currently proposed or under development that could force 135 million more people to endure fumes, flares and spills.”

NO CHEESEBURGERS for YOU, and NO WHOPPER ADS, EITHER!

The UN special rapporteur (which Google AI defines as “a person appointed to report on a specific topic or issue” as opposed to a Haitian hip hop hero) has called for criminal penalties against those peddling disinformation about the climate crisis and a total ban on fossil fuel industry lobbying and advertising.

“The climate crisis is a manifestation and catalyst of deep-rooted injustices,” added Agnès Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International. “The age of fossil fuels must end now.”

Another 11/12 GUK f*** (ATTACHMENT EIGHTEEN), citing findings from the Climate Action Tracker - revealing that the world “is still on track for a catastrophic 2.6C increase in temperature as countries have not made sufficiently strong climate pledges, while emissions from fossil fuels have hit a record high, two major reports have found.”

Despite their promises, governments’ new emission-cutting plans submitted for the Cop30 climate talks taking place in Brazil have done little to avert dangerous global heating for the fourth consecutive year.

“This level of heating easily breaches the thresholds set out in the Paris climate pact, which every country agreed to, and would set the world spiralling into a catastrophic new era of extreme weather and severe hardships.”

“A world at 2.6C means global disaster,” added Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics, meaning “...the end of agriculture in the UK and across Europe, drought and monsoon failure in Asia and Africa, lethal heat and humidity. This is not a good place to be. You want to stay away from that.”

COP invader and former US vice-president Al Gore told delegates that it was “literally insane that we are allowing [global heating] to continue”.

VEGANS ON METH

While fossil fuels like coal, oil and that other stuff was garnering the hate at COP30, another chemical diabolism... cutting methane (sometimes derided as “pig farts”) was touted as a way to “buy crucial time as the clean-energy shift stalls” according to another GUK article. (November 16^th, ATTACHMENT NINETEEN)

“Cutting methane is the single most important strategy to slow near-term warming,” Durwood Zaelke, the president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, and a longtime advocate of action on methane, told the Brits (who, in the absence of American delegates and media, had COP to themselves). “In fact, it’s the only strategy that has a chance of working. Cutting carbon dioxide is a marathon, but methane is a sprint.”

Methane, the main component of the natural gas that is burned around the world for fuel, is produced by natural and human-made processes, including leaky oil and gas infrastructure, livestock, and the rotting of organic material. Once in the atmosphere, GUK reported, it is “about 80 times more powerful in trapping heat than carbon dioxide, but has a shorter life, breaking down in about 20 years.

“Scientists estimate that methane alone has driven at least a third of the warming in recent years,” GUK disclosed last year. “New satellites and detection systems have revealed an unexpected truth: many countries have been massively underreporting their methane emissions, and the quantities of the gas being poured into the atmosphere have been climbing strongly, even while carbon dioxide output has been slowing.

“Cutting methane would give the planet essential breathing space, staving off the worst consequences of climate breakdown while the transition to a clean energy future gathers pace.

“It’s the rocket in the pocket,” said Paul Bledsoe, a former Clinton White House climate adviser. “It’s effective and it’s cheap to reduce methane – two-thirds of the reductions needed from the energy sector could be done at zero net cost.”

“Yet,” GUK now contends, action lagged. “More than 150 countries are bound to cut their methane levels from 2020 by 30% by 2030, under the global methane pledge signed at Cop26 in 2021. But China, India and Russia – all major producers – are missing, and the US under Donald Trump now looks unlikely to fulfil its part.”

“Methane emissions across the supply chain are a key indicator of poor environmental and operational practices in the fossil fuel industry. Reducing methane emissions in the energy sector is the most effective and rapid way to cut greenhouse gases in the short term.”

Tommaso Franci, of the Amici della Terra campaign group, said: “Methane emissions across the supply chain are a key indicator of poor environmental and operational practices in the fossil fuel industry. Reducing methane emissions in the energy sector is the most effective and rapid way to cut greenhouse gases in the short term.”

And to answer the question of how methane emissions can be reduced... well, to eliminate cow and pig farts, governments have to eliminate cows and pigs, which means eliminating bacon, cheeseburgers and yogurt through “(b)inding agricultural emissions targets, full supply-chain reporting, and support for a just transition toward agroecology and more plant-based food systems are essential.”

Or, as the sad-ass sinner in the cartoon heart heart attack medicine commercials wails: “Kale! I ate kale! Kale!”

When COP30 opened the absence of an American delegation marked the first time... even during Trump 1.0... that the world’s largest economy — and historically the world’s largest carbon emitter — refused to participate in global efforts to reduce the harm of climate change.

On one level, America’s skipping out on the COP “place(d) a ceiling on just how much effect any commitments made at the conference (would) have on reducing carbon emissions globally.” But because America, has now transformed from a potential roadblock into an aggressive antagonist, President Trump, by pulling back from the discussions “may have given them a greater chance of success than otherwise would have existed.” (MSNBC, Nov. 14^th, ATTACHMENT TWENTY)

It was clear before Trump returned to office that clean-energy technology was not part of his agenda. A centerpiece of his campaign was denouncing the “Green New Scam,” as he called it, promising to roll back the Biden administration’s climate achievements and investments in renewable energy. In its place would be a set of policies campaign officials described as working to “maximize fossil fuel production” — or, in Trump’s words, “drill, baby, drill”, because for the Trump administration’s strategy for American energy dominance to succeed, “global moves away from fossil fuels must be kneecapped. Rather than merely ignoring the rest of the world’s efforts to forestall rising temperatures as we make polluters great again at home, what little progress other countries have made must also be rolled back.”

The United States, however, did maintain an unofficial... perhaps even adversarial... presence at COP30, with a large number of state and local representatives -- as well as environmental nonprofits based in the U.S. (the Environmental Defense Fund, Sierra Club and the like) as well as invasive agitators -- were in attendance. (ABC, Nov. 15^th, ATTACHMENT TWENTY ONE)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a rumoured candidate for President in 2028, said that: “While Donald Trump skips the world stage, California is showing up -- leading, partnering, and proving what American climate leadership looks like," (meaning, of course, himself).

Also making the rounds in Belem were Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, who said that the current occupant of the White House “simply does not represent the American public on climate issues," Governors Tony Evers, (Wi), Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM), Mayor Kate Gallego (Phoenix), Gavin Buckley (Annapolis) and Van Johnson (Savannah).

Also speaking from the shadows was former Vice President Al Gore.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who maintained that COP30 was "essentially a hoax" and “not an honest organization looking to better human lives," said that he might attend the present or a future COP "just to try to deliver some common sense."

He did not attend COP30.

Christiana Figueres, a diplomat from Costa Rica who played a key role in the inception of the 2015 Paris Agreement, said the U.S. would not be able to "do their direct bullying" due to the Trump administration's boycott of the summit.

"I actually think it is a good thing," Figueres said during a press conference on Tuesday.

Figueres then said, "Ciao, bambino," which translates to "Bye, little boy," in Italian, in response to Trump’s withdrawing from the Paris Agreement for the second time.

CNBC (ATTACHMENT TWENTY TWO) referenced “a Trump-shaped hole” hanging over convocation; but, like others above, Anna Aberg, research fellow at the Environment and Society Centre at Chatham House, a London-based think tank, said it was likely “a positive for the international community that the Trump administration won’t send any officials to Belem.”

She also admitted that, while the U.N. talks will be “really important” in shaping the discussion on how to tackle the climate crisis, “the outcome was highly likely to be underwhelming,” while corporate interests from alternate energy producers jostled and jousted with the corporate lobbyists.

Back at the UN conference (Attachment Five, above) SecGen Antonio Guterres had also “tried to keep the world focused on continuing a global transition away from fossil fuels towards clean energy” by invoking the profit motive. (Reuters, ATTACHMENT TWENTY THREE)

“Just follow the money,” Guterres had said in June, declaring that “$2 trillion flowed into clean energy last year, $800 billion more than fossil fuels and up almost 70% in a decade.”

HATER, HATER: ALLIGATOR

But even the prospect of profits did not deter the hard-core hard-right from their loyalty to King Donald.

The Washington Times, a creature of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his “moonies” mooned the Belem wokesters by proposing that “America First” roll back its enslavement by the anti-carbon crusaders and pull the United States out of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).

This 1992 relic, “the mother ship of all U.N. climate machinations, shackles us to endless reporting, funding obligations and bureaucratic overreach,” Moonman Frank Lasee... president of Truth in Energy & Climate and a former Wisconsin state senator... appealed to Trump (ATTACHMENT TWENTY FOUR), saying: “Mr. President, you have shown the courage to torpedo the Paris agreement. Now sink the UNFCCC and free America from this outdated, unfair treaty.”

Lasee called UNFCCC “...economic sabotage masquerading as salvation. The treaty demands that we report every puff of carbon dioxide, tying our hands on fossil fuels — America’s strength — while China, the world’s top emitter, corners markets with cheap energy and ever-growing emissions.”

Staying in the UNFCCC keeps us at the COP table, “where hypocrites like those at COP30 chop down 100,000 Amazon trees for a “climate” road and will spend their time figuring out how to make the U.S. and other “wealthy” countries cough up trillions of dollars for them to redistribute to “poor” nations.”

It’s time for an America-centric reset, vetured Lasee. “Keep putting America and American interests first. Leaving this treaty is another big step in the right direction.” Calling carbon dioxide “the gas of life” quitting UNFCC would unshackle America from “neocolonial wealth transfers.”

The views and the venom of the WashTimes are notorious but, since Halloween, the climate denialist flagship has obtained a new captain... the former founder of Microsoft and recovering environmentalist Bill Gates who now (National Review, October 28^th, ATTACHMENT TWENTY FIVE) says climate change “will not lead to humanity’s demise,” despite having spent years fearmongering over rising global temperatures.

“Although climate change will have serious consequences — particularly for people in the poorest countries — it will not lead to humanity’s demise,” Gates, who had previously spent billions of dollars on climate-related initiatives, blogged. “People will be able to live and thrive in most places on Earth for the foreseeable future.”

Billionaire Bill now suggests “we should measure success by our impact on human welfare more than our impact on the global temperature,” according to Buckley girl Brittany Bernstein, calling for a “strategic pivot” in addressing climate change; saying that, “rather than focusing on trying to limit rising temperatures, climate advocacy should focus on efforts to prevent disease and poverty.”

Well... just as President Trump conceded that a bad Democrat was better than Communist candidate (and now Mayor) Mamdani... whom he will be meeting tomorrow... the NR has to take want it can get from the likes of Gates who, at least, has enraged the likes of UN SecGen Guterres who shot back that overshooting the sacred 1.5C temperature “tipping point” would have “devastating consequences... be it in the Amazon, be it in Greenland, or western Antarctica or the coral reefs.”

LOBBYCRATS: NO TOFU FO’ YOU!

As COP30 copped on, the American Petroleum Institute was pouring green waves of money into American commercials featuring a cute blonde “womanning” an oil rig, embodying (literally) “drill, baby, drill.”

More numerous and more resourced, than the denialists, fossil fuel lobbyists “flooded” COP30 – with Newsweek reporting that 1,600 of them had descended upon Belem... despite the extortionist accommodation fees... “outnumber(ing) the delegations from nearly every country (only host country Brazil has more people present).

According to the bean counters counted by Newsweek (November 14^th, ATTACHMENT TWENTY SIX), “one in every 25 participants at the gathering in Belém represents the fossil fuel industry.”

“It is infuriating to watch their influence deepen year after year, making a mockery of the process and of the communities suffering its consequences,” stormed Jax Bongon of the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition, based in the Philippines when a really big storm, typhoon Fung-Wong “made landfall just as the COP30 talks were getting underway early this week bringing widespread flooding and damage.”

Climate scientists say climate change has created ocean conditions that supercharge ocean storms, making them more intense. Bongon said the analysis shows a need to protect the United Nations climate policymaking process from corporate capture.

At COP28, hosted by the “oil-rich United Arab Emirates” in 2023, KBPO identified more than 2,400 attendees as fossil fuel lobbyists.

“However, the group noted, because overall attendance at COP30 is much lower than at COP28, the proportion of fossil fuel lobbyists in Belém is higher.”

KBPO singled out the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) for bringing 148 lobbyists to COP30.

Andrew Wilson, deputy secretary-general for policy at ICC, disputed the report’s findings and said that the numbers are overstated. Wilson told Newsweek that the ICC brought a total of 148 members to Belém.

“That should not be read as 148 tickets went to the fossil fuel industry,” Wilson said. “Only three went to fossil fuel companies.”

Wilson said the ICC is “absolutely committed” to the Paris Climate Agreement.

“Our aim is to accelerate the energy transition,” he said. “We see fossil fuel companies as a vital part of that journey given our energy needs.”

“We’ve been too nice about this for too damn long,” Sen. Whitehouse (above) told the press, accusing the industry of perpetrating “climate denial fraud” for decades. “The most corrupting influence we face is the dark money corruption of the fossil fuel industry.”

“It’s common sense that you cannot solve a problem by giving power to those who caused it,” Bongon said.

While the oilies were locking Bill Gates away in their lock box, the Buckley Boys, the girls and the particle men and women reverted to hateful partisanship and a strange partnership, declaring that: “the War on Plastic is Getting Out of Hand!!!” (NR, Nov. 15^th, ATTACHMENT TWENTY SEVEN)

Some certain activists... “left-wing climate activists”, in fact, always “busy praising China — the world's leading polluter — for its clean energy efforts, or bemoaning the loss of their ally against plastics, former President Joe Biden,” continue promoting a “misguided global crackdown on single-use plastics.” Plastic lobbyists have come to Brazil to set the delegates straight.

And what’s worse to these creeps and cowards than the plastic containers in which provisions are stored, sometimes microwaved and then devoured, is what goes into the plastics.

Fortunately, to the unwoke, more than 300 industrial agriculture lobbyists have participated at this year’s UN climate talks taking place in the Brazilian Amazon – their numbers counted by no less than their enemies at the Guardian U.K. (Nov. 18^th, ATTACHMENT TWENTY EIGTH)

“The number of lobbyists representing the interests of industrial cattle farming, commodity grains and pesticides is up 14% on last year’s summit in Baku” – GUK reported – and larger than the delegation of the world’s 10th largest economy, Canada, which brought 220 delegates to Cop30 in Belém,” according to the joint investigation by DeSmog (a cabal of climate journalists and media) and the Guardian.

The liberals contend that agriculture is responsible for a quarter to a third of global emissions “and scientists say it will be impossible to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris agreement without radical changes to the way we produce and consume food.” This includes meat, of course, but also soybeans – used for animal feed and that demonic sustenance of Orientals: tofu.

That’s right... not only should the big meat eaters drown in guilt for their sins, those mincing, limpid soy substitute destroyers of the planet will have to be exterminated. Unless, perhaps, Bill Gates comes to the rescue.

Of the lobbyist contingent, GUK calculated that meat and dairy interests sent the largest number, “accounting for 72 of the total 302 delegates.” The industrialised food sector celebrated the lack of action at recent climate summits, which failed to recommend binding targets for reductions in emissions, fossil fuel use or meat consumption; a 2020 study found that even if fossil fuels were immediately eliminated, business as usual in the food sector probably puts the goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C above preindustrial levels – and even the 2C goal – out of reach.

Agrochemicals – pesticides and synthetic fertilisers – account for 60 delegates, and biofuels have 38 representatives – a 138% jump since last year. The pesticides giant Bayer sent 19 lobbyists, the highest number, while Nestlé has nine... so the government will have to criminalize chocolate, perhaps sanctioning Brazil.

“These findings are proof that industrial agriculture has been allowed to co-opt the climate convention,” said Lidy Nacpil of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development. “Cop will never deliver real climate action as long as industry lobbyists are allowed to influence governments and negotiators,” and GUK added that, since most synthetic fertilisers are derived from fossil fuels and emit nitrous oxide – “a greenhouse gas 300 times more powerful than CO₂, of which agriculture is the largest driver,” laughter has to be assumed to be a manifestation of thoughtcrime – its practitioners and provocateurs (and here is where the MAGA war on liberal comedians merges with the fossil fuel and tofu lobbyists) should... like the traitorous Democrats who, today, counseled military peacekeepers to refuse actions unlawful lawmakers have prohibited, and like the still unhung Veep Pence, be subjected to vigilante justice at the end of the rope.

“What’s happening in Belém is not a climate conference but a hostage negotiation over the future of the planet where those holding the detonators – the soy barons, the beef cartels, the pesticide peddlers – are seated at the table as honest brokers,” said Raj Patel, author of “Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System”.

The Fox News network out of Yakima, Washington profiled a rare, intrepid oil CEO who braved the wiles of the woke and “jousted” with climate activists... TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne... who was confronted by a Greenpeace activist over demands that the fossil fuel industry compensate victims of extreme weather events.

“There have been cyclones in the Caribbean for decades,” Pouyanne retorted. (November 14^th, ATTACHMENT TWENTY NINE)

When told the events were “accelerating,” he replied: “I am not a scientist.”

The Greenpeace activist had cited a report from NGOs denouncing the presence of many lobbyists tied to the fossil fuel industry at COP30 leaving Pouvanne to deny that he was a lobbyist, saying: “I was invited. I came and I believe in dialogue. I don’t think we will make progress on climate through exclusion because otherwise what will happen? We will stay in our corner, we’ll make our oil and that’s it?”

As noted above, while the number of gas, oil, meat and tofu lobbyists that KBPO identified stood at around 1,600... slightly fewer than the 1,773 in Baku, last year... the smaller number of anti-pollution delegates due to lack of the visible enemy, America, to show meant that the proportion of lobbyist to delegates was higher. (The Conversation, November 19^th, ATTACHMENT THIRTY)

“The reason lobbyists are sent is to protect existing revenue streams. Fossil fuel companies invest in lobbying because it works – and not just on climate,” “Conversation” conversers conversed. In August, the UN talks on plastic pollution collapsed for the second time. Hundreds of fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists had registered to attend. Many lobbied to expand recycling... which the woke world deems a sinister substitute for reducing the production of new plastics and other pollutants, so, in response, the International Court of Justice decreed that states and companies “could be held legally liable for damage caused by extraction of fossil fuels (and) called for a ban on fossil lobbyists.”

The petrostate problem

It’s not just corporations seeking to blunt climate ambition. Nations do too.

According to the Carbon Tracker Initiative, 13 nations derive more than 50% of their GDP from fossil fuels. Alongside highly-dependent petrostates are other major fossil fuel exporters such as Russia and the US. Saudi Arabia, has repeatedly worked to undermine the science on climate change at international negotiations and Abu Dhabi’s oily CEO and 2023 COP President, Sultan Al Jaber claimed there was “no science” supporting a fossil fuel phase out to meet Paris Agreement goals, though he later walked this back.

WILD in the STREETS...

Thousands of people marched through the streets of Belem on Saturday to press for action from negotiators holding tough talks at the UN’s COP30 climate conference in the Amazonian city.

“Under a baking sun, Indigenous people mixed with activists gathered in a festive atmosphere, blasting music from speakers, carrying a giant beach ball of Earth and holding a flag of Brazil emblazoned with the words “Protected Amazon.”

“It was the first major protest outside the annual climate talks since COP26 four years ago in Glasgow, as the last three gatherings were held in locations with little tolerance for demonstrations — Egypt, Dubai and Azerbaijan.

“Branded the “Great People’s March” by organizers, the Belem rally comes at the halfway point of contentious negotiations and follows two Indigenous-led protests that disrupted proceedings earlier in the week.” (Fox News, November 15^th ATTACHMENT THIRTY ONE)

Indigenous demonstrators were at the front of the march, physically and politically but, behind them, came the mob. Their demands include “reparations” for damage caused by corporations and governments, especially to marginalized communities... money to be paid to “facilitators” who might even pass a few cruzieros on to the actual victims. Some also held a giant Palestinian flag and “free Palestine” banner. One protester on stilts dressed as Uncle Sam denounced “imperialism.”

Violence manifested – but no fatalities were reported.

“On Tuesday, Indigenous protesters forced their way into the Parque da Cidade — the COP30 compound built on the site of a former airport — clashing with security personnel, some of whom sustained minor injuries. Then on Friday, dozens of Indigenous protesters blocked the entrance for roughly two hours to spotlight their struggles in the Amazon, prompting high-level interventions to defuse the situation.”

Other climate protesters marched on COP30 with costumes and drums demanding to be heard. (ATTACMENT THIRTY TWO)

“Some wore black dresses to signify a funeral for fossil fuels. Hundreds wore red shirts, symbolizing the blood of colleagues fighting to protect the environment. And others chanted, waved huge flags or held up signs Saturday in what's traditionally the biggest day of protest at the halfway point of annual United Nations climate talks.

Vitoria Balbina, a regional coordinator for the Interstate Movement of Coconut Breakers of Babaçu, marched with a group of mostly women wearing domed hats made with fronds of the Babaçu palm. They were calling for more access to the trees on private property that provide not only their livelihoods but also a deep cultural significance. She said marching is not only about fighting and resistance on a climate and environment front, but also about "a way of life."

The marchers formed a sea of red, white and green flags as they progressed up a hill. A crowd of onlookers gathered outside a corner supermarket to watch them approach, leaning over a railing and taking cellphone photos. "Beautiful," said a man passing by, carrying grocery bags.

The United Nations News (ATTACHMENT THIRTY THREE) covered protests as they migrated from the streets to the suites round about Belem, where “ministers, senior officials” and, of course, attorneys began stepping into the spotlight, as negotiations migrated from technical wrangling to political decision-making.

“There is no time to waste with tactical delays or stonewalling,” said UN climate chief Simon Stiell, who added: “The time for performative diplomacy has now passed.”

While ministers debated inside, the streets of Belém pulsed with energy. “The People’s Summit, held from 12–16 November, drew more than 25,000 participants – the largest ever – and culminated in a climate justice march of 70,000 people, the biggest demonstration of its kind.”

“Social movements are pressing hard on climate finance, warning of potential “ecological debts,” and demanding a broader vision of just transition – one that includes jobs, food sovereignty, and territorial rights, not just renewable energy.”

The People’s Summit wasn’t just about speeches. It was about solidarity. Groups like the Landless Workers Movement (MTST) organized a vast “solidarity kitchen,” drawing on experience from last year’s flood response in Rio Grande do Sul.  

Over 300,000 free meals were served, featuring Amazonian staples like jambu, açaí, and pirarucu.

In a more confrontational endeavor, summarized as our Lesson was about to close... only to see COP30 end in a disaster (see below) that would have President Trump, Putin, Saudi’s Salman and – who knows? The Devil? – lifting Diet Cokes in celebration... public hearings symbolically tried 21 cases of socio-environmental violations like “greenwashing”... a deceptive marketing strategy in which companies promote an environmentally responsible image — previously limited to the corporate environment — as a “disinformation engine” used to influence political decisions, delegitimize impacted communities, and neutralize criticism of predatory enterprises... “ecogenocide” such as the commercialization of carbon credits, displacement of 40,000 people by the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Power Plant and the spread of disinformation – as exemplified by the initiative Mentira Tem Preço (Lies Have a Price).

People’s Summit roundtables addressed “the defense of territories against land-based racism, the right to prior consultation in the face of the climate market, carbon markets as a false solution, agroecological production as an alternative, and the risks of repeating past mistakes in the so-called energy transition.” (Infoamazonia, Thursday morning 8 AM: ATTACHMENT THIRTY FOUR)

“(D)isinformation has become more sophisticated; it is no longer necessarily denying the existence of a climate emergency,” contends Thaís Brianezi, a professor at the School of Communication and Arts at the University of São Paulo (ECA/USP) and a member of the Educom&Clima Project. The strategy now is more subtle — as in the case of fossil fuel companies that claim they need to “continue exploring for oil, find new deposits, and exploit resources to make the energy transition.”

The poor quality of journalistic coverage exacerbates the problem, Brianezi citing “news deserts” that “are not just geographical, they are thematic.”

But simply denouncing is not enough. “We have to make a proclamation showing other forms of economy, of production that are out there, where the economy is a means and the greater good is life, the collective,” she argues, citing the circular economy, the care economy, and the concept of good living. According to (Brianezi), working only on denunciation does not mobilize: “we also need to work showing that other worlds are possible, so that we don’t believe that the end of the world is easier than the end of capitalism.”

ROADMAP to RUIN

Early yesterday morning, dozens of governments on Tuesday urged countries to agree on a “roadmap” for phasing out coal, oil and natural gas, ratcheting up the stakes for United Nations climate change negotiations.

“The call from 82 countries spanning Europe, the Pacific islands, Latin America and Africa immediately elevated the topic to the top of the COP30 agenda, making it one of the most substantial and likely divisive topics of the two-week negotiations.” (Politico, ATTACHMENT THIRTY FIVE)

One name absent from the list was the United States, the world’s top oil and gas producer, which skipped the talks entirely.

The World Economic Forum, ATTACHMENT THIRTY SIX) listed some of the accomplishments, disasters and distractions of the first week – including Steill’s charge: "In this arena of COP30, your job here is not to fight one another – your job here is to fight this climate crisis, together."

A less-forgiving Lula called on delegates to fight fake news and climate denialism. "COP30 must be the COP of truth. It is time to take the scientific warnings seriously," he warned.

Some examples noted included the projected rise in CO2 emissions from fossil fuels (and, also, cement), the Iranian drought... with officials warning that Tehran “could soon become uninhabitable without rain”... the EU’s (perhaps premature) promise to “cut greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040” and, on the happy side, Prince William awarding million pound Earthshot Prizes to endeavors like “forest restoration in Brazil, clean air initiatives in Bogotá, an international ocean treaty, sustainable fashion in Lagos and community climate support in Bangladesh.”

Reuters’ coverage of the COP (November 18^th, ATTACHMENT THIRTY SEVEN) was able to inspect a draft of the proposed COP30 resolutions – including proposals to “phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies” – and (ATTACHMENT THIRTY EIGHT) a proposed Brazilian deal to phase out fossil fuels and deliver climate finance provisions deemed thorny by higher authorities and, finally, (ATTACHMENT THIRTY NINE) that, while the first version of the deal “split opinion(s)”, Lula and Guterres would be meeting to finalize terms and conditions.

Pacific island nation Vanuatu's climate minister Ralph Regenvanu told Reuters that “we’ve got blockers”; Saudi Arabia was one of those opposed to the fossil fuel plan and Marshall Islands climate envoy Tina Stege said: “We're going to have to fight tooth and nail. There are many parties who have already said that they do not want that (a roadmap to cutting fossil fuel cutbacks) in the text at all."

A new deal draft was expected yesterday, but never surfaced... disappointing the poorer countries.

"We want ambition on finance. We want ambition on adaptation. We want to see ambition on the transition," Jiwoh Abdulai, Sierra Leone's climate minister, told Reuters. "And we want to ensure that we live here on a path that is sustainable, not just for this generation, but for future generations."

Resolution being delayed until at least tomorrow, the delegates crossed swords with “a group of scientists” who maintained that “... road map is not a workshop or a ministerial meeting. A road map is a real workplan that needs to show us the way from where we are to where we need to be, and how to get there.” (WRAL News, Raleigh NC: ATTACHMENT FORTY)

Eventually, 82 countries agreed to prosecute the “roadmap” for “phasing out coal, oil and natural gas, ratcheting up the stakes for United Nations climate change negotiations” that were supposed to end on Friday, “elevating the topic to the top of the COP30 agenda, (and) making it one of the most substantial and likely divisive topics of the two-week negotiations. (Politico, ATTACHMENT FORTY ONE)

“One name absent from the list is the United States, the world’s top oil and gas producer, which is skipping the talks entirely.”

Well... COP30 was supposed to end in resolutions and charges to community, polluters and the real cops... but “horrific” circumstances intervened.

THE FIRE at the END of the ROAD

Wikipedia (Attachment Two, above) reported that Australia and Turkey both want to host COP31, ^[59] “but if there is no agreement, the 2026 conference will be in Bonn, Germany. Many delegates hurried off to G-20 in South Africa. Some, however, remained hospitalized after COP30 crashed to a close in a fiery horrorshow.

There had been many well-intentioned resolutions and conclusions but, unfortunately, COP30 itself did its own fair imitation of Los Angeles a year ago, erupting into flames in a conflagration that injured thirteen, as of a last, late reckoning, but was not believed to be terrorist initiated; rather the culprit was simply explained as “bad wiring.” (Express, ATTACHMENT FORTY TWO)

Addendum:

Saturday, after the fire, those who deal in deals claimed that COP had ended with a simple deal… fix everything and make the (absent) Americans pay. Nobody took it seriously.

Some of those not burned up or blown up went therough the turnstiles again – this time to the G-20 summit in South Africa where, again, Trump was a no-show… this time protesting the government’s persecution of white Christians as Brazil’s Bolsonaro begins the weekend with a (failed) escape attempt.

	IN the NEWS: NOVEMBER 13^TH to NOVEMBER 19^TH, 2025
Thursday, November 13, 2025 Dow: 47,457.22	A relieved Speaker Mike gloats: “The Democratic shutdown is over!” after a 221 – 208 House vote and Presidential signature. Trump says the shutdown cost $1.5 T which Democrats wee happy to pay “to make people suffer”. Liberal apologists say they achieved promises of a December deal on healthcare while Republicans don’t even hide their plans to not only renege, but work to eliminate Obamacare entiresly, saying that it benefits only the big insurance companies. Dems admit they were scammed but have their own revenge and retribution in mind and press forward on the Epstein files, which Djonald InConsistent now resists releasing (or pretends to). Talking heads ask if this is his shutdown distraction, or the looming invasion of Venezuela a distraction from the shutdown and Epstein. Now its time for rewards and punishments. Part of the shutdown deal was that “sickouts” would not be fired, while Kristi Noem promises to give Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) and Transportation Security Agents (TSA) who remained working long hours on the job. Some Republicans vote themselves $500,000 settlements from taxpayers for having been “slandered’ during the various Trump trials, while Donnie himself raises the numbers in his lawsuit against the BBC from one to five billion. That’s a lot of pennies – and the Mint presses its late (the value of the copper used to make them being 3¢. Next, the thrifty want to eliminate the nickel (which costs 14¢). Another payout comes from the Golden Bachelor – a rose for his retired firelady. Not a ring, tho, the old guy says he wants to wait a while before committing.
Friday, November 14, 2025 Dow: 47,147.48	The maybe on again, maybe off again, maybe distractive Venezuelan invations now has a name: Operation Southern Spear. Or... are the Colombians the ones who will be attacked to preserve those coffee tariffs, or Brazil... where COP30 is under way (above) with lots of sleepy speeches. A few more maybe drugrunners, maybe fishingboats are sunk but a Reuters/IPSOS poll says only 29% of Americans would support a ground war. There are mixed messages on Pal Jeffy from the still-under-reconstructed White House: sometimes the President declares the affair is a hoax and will not release the files, at other times he threatens that – if he did – the dirt would stick to Slick Willie and his clan, not Trump’s own billionaire friends (and donors). Even Republicans like Don Bacon (R-Nb) claim to be getting sick and tired with the whole farce. Back in the real world, real wars grind on. Radical Israeli settlers torch a West Bank mosque while Russia throws more missiles and rockets and drones against Kiev – where President Zelenskyy has a problem: some of his closest advisor are taking advantage of the destruction to line their own pockets. And hackers, all named “Claude” (but presumably Chinese, not French) infest social media, perhaps sharpening their teeth for the Great War to come? With gumment numbers crunches struggling back to work and numbers coming in, the Food Police predict mixed prices for Thanksgiving: cranberries, dinner rolls and (most importantly) turkey is down; fresh produce and potatoes are more expensive.
Saturday, November 15, 2025 Dow: Closed	Mother Nature reminds her children that she’s still in charge... serial storms lashing the West Coast with rain and, where it falls on burn scars from old wildfires, landslides. California weatherpeople call this the wettest Nobember since 1985. There’s record heat from the Rockies east... 85° in Oklahoma City. The freeze from ICA moves on to North Carolina and its Democratic Governor... another cutesy name proposed amidst the chaos and carnage is: Operation Charlotte’s Web, Not so cute: riots ensure. More polls indicate more trouble for the elephants, so President Trump rolls back some of his food tariffs so as not to be seen as the Thanksgiving Grinch. In advance of Zorro taking office in Gotham, the kind people there vote to ban horse-drawn carriages. Crime is booming: thieves steal $10K worth of cards from Tom Brady’s card store. South Carolina deals with the problem its own way, executing StephenBryant - the seventh person put to death in 14 months by firing squad.
Sunday, November 9, 2025 Dow: Closed	It’s Talkshow Sunday... ...and they’re still talking about Dead Jeff. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky) earns the enmity of The Donald for his prediction that dozens, maybe even a hundred Republicans will defect and desert on releasing the files; telling ABC’s Jonathan Karl that the Prez is likely to hide the most damning by claiming National Security. He also says that Trump is probably not personally held up to the light, but many of his billionaire pals (and donors) will be, at least, embarrassed (if not arrested). On the Democratic side, Sen. Chris Murphy calls the situation(s) “heartbreaking and expected” also predicts partisan desertions – perhaps proven by a Presidential summons to former ally Loren Bobert to come to the White House and change her views. As with MTG – unlikely. Trump’s Economic Director Hassett tells the public that egg prices are down and inflation is all Biden’s fault. And, stretching back to health care in the shutdown – Obama’s. The ABC roundtable’s regulars, former CNC chair Donna Brazile and former RNC chair Reince Priebus agree that the Epstein files distract America from America’s job but Reince toes the line that disclosure will hurt Dems while Brazile calls the situation “ugly” and Republicans hypocrites. Former Trump tool Sara Isgur says things are going badly for MAGA, including traitors like Jeff Sessions and the Heritage Foundation; liberal Faiz Shakiri says even Tucker Carlson is tucking The Donald. Priebus closes by saying he doubts there will be a land invasion of Venezuela, or Colombiaa. On Face the Nation, Bacon, says Repubs want to keep Obamacare, but with some regulations like cutting off benefits for people earning $400K/Yr. while Tom Suozzi (D-NY) asks whether the Trump $2,000 tariff giveaway will be in tax credits (benefitting only the rich) or cold, hard cash (benefitting everybody).
Monday, November 10, 2025 Dow: 46,590.74	Warnings that Epstein embargo may cost Republican Congress its majorities. President Trump TACOs on holding files (except for those allegedly threatening “national security”... i.e. wealthy friends and donors). “Let’s pull the band-aid off,” says Massie. New Trumpspin is that the docs go to DoJ to seek and prosecute Bill Clinton and his gang (many now dead or decrepit). No forget and forgive, for “traitors” like MTG and Lauren Bobert. Gumment returning to normalcy as FAA drops travel restriction and tariff reductions cause Thanksgiving food prices to ease except, pundits say, “where some are charging whatever they can get away with.” SNAP will be back in a few days, but new changes will require able bodied recipients to work for their meals. Military working hard at home and abroad. ICE, National Guard, various soldiers ramp up “Charloette’s Weeb in North Caolina; critcs say they’re just draggin dark people off the street and beating them up. Riots at night, but no (live) gunfire. That’s for Venezuela, where the 21^st boat is sunk. Trump says Maduro “would like to talk,” but he’ll think about it. Hippies protest a rider to the reopening bill that re-criminalizes CBD or THC in vapes or gummies. Church police happy again.
Tuesday, November 11, 2025 Dow: 46,091.74	After the President’s Epstein TACO, the House vote to release the files is 427-1 with Jeffy’s lone defender in the afterlife is Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La). Trump lashes out at reporters, calling one “Piggy” and promises that the DoJ will indict Democrats – the first being former SecTreas Larry Summers. Cancelled comic Colbert calls it “Epstein Rockin’ Eve” when the balls drop. Djonald UnFriended goes back to work as ICE rounds up more naughty foreigners, including some putting up Charlotte Chrismas decorations. 30,000 frightened children stay home from school while Trump hosts nice foreigners (Saudi Prince Salman and his entourage) and selss the dozens of fighter jets, while he denies profiting from his office regarding new shopping centers and hotels on and around the Gulf. That’s Don Jr. and Eric’s job. The March of Dimes says child mortality rates in the U.S. are climbing, but survivors are still playing childish games, notably Six – Seven, words which provoke laughter and/or Gen. Alpha solidarity. Not to be confused with 746, a cult that preys on troubled teens, advising them to kill themselves and post videos on social media. Grieving parents press for Roblox and Discord to protect American youth from cults and predators which they promise to do with new surveillance and security standards that draw civil libertarians into the fray.
Wednesday, November 12, 2025 Dow: 46,138.77	Epstein docs declassification goes to Senate, passes unanimously. “We did it!” say family of Virginia Giuffre, raped by Jeffy and others (Prince Andrew?) and wins a big settlement, then kills herself. TVlawyers say that the docs will be releaed by Christmas but some might still be held back for reasons of “national security”... (i.e. implicating Trump friends and donors). More jittery journalists cover Prince Salman’s visit to Washington. Some, of course, ask about his orders to decapitate WashPost reporter Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey; Salman says it wasn’t his fault and Trump just says: “Things happen.” (Clearly wanting to learn from his guest how to handle his pests.) Another pest, the Grande grabber, gets off with nine days for being “a public nuisance” in Singapore (the place where possession of one marijuana joint brings death). Co-incidentally, Trump’s DoJ re-criminalizes THC and CBD vapes, gummies and whatsoever to push the Prison Planet forward into 2026. Wrapping up in Charlotte, the next ICEy mission will be “Operation Swamp Sweep” in New Orleans.
As indices bifurcate following end of shutdown, we chose to post wage increases based on all American laborers, including the higher paid supervisors (but not the investors). Thus, October and November saw a jump in the DJI which did not reflect the status of middle and low income Joneses... but, hey!... these results are a compilation of ALL Americans.

THE DON JONES INDEX

CHART of CATEGORIES w/VALUE ADDED to EQUAL BASELINE of 15,000

(REFLECTING… approximately… DOW JONES INDEX of June 27, 2013)

Although some of the data as was in suspense during the shutdown is trickling back in, estimates may still be lagging – but should be corrected within a week or two/ Gains in indices as improved are noted in GREEN. Negative/harmful indices in RED as are their designation. (Note – some of the indices where the total went up created a realm where their value went down... and vice versa.) See a further explanation of categories HERE

ECONOMIC INDICES		(60%)
CATEGORY	VALUE	BASE	RESULTS by PERCENTAGE			SCORE		OUR SOURCES and COMMENTS
INCOME	(24%)	6/17/13 revised 1/1/22	LAST	CHANGE	NEXT	LAST WEEK	THIS WEEK	THE WEEK’S CLOSING STATS...
Wages (hrly. Per cap)	9%	1350 points	11/13/2025	+0.16%	11/25	1,846.20	1,849.22	https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/average-hourly-earnings 31.53 (31.46) 36.67 (36.53) *Average hourly earnings for all employees on US private nonfarm payrolls rose by 9 cents, or 0.2% over a month, to $36.67 in September 2025, slowing from an upwardly revised 0.4% gain in August and just below market forecasts of a 0.3% increase. In September, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 8 cents, or 0.3%, to $31.53. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.8% in September, matching August's revised pace and slightly above analysts' estimates of 3.7%. Given the ginormous jump already factored in, we will be using the overall payroll stats – including wealthy supervisory workers.  source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Median Inc. (yearly)	4%	600	11/13/2025	+0.09%	11/27/25	986.80	987.37	http://www.usdebtclock.org/   44,763 48,793 819 847 * As above.
Unempl. (BLS – in mi)	4%	600	11/13/2025	+2.33%	10/25*	530.25	517.92	http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000/ 4.3* 4.4% (SEPT.)
Official (DC – in mi)	2%	300	11/13/2025	+0.04%	11/27/25	215.11	215.02	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    7,282 285 288 291
Unofficl. (DC – in mi)	2%	300	11/13/2025	+0.29%	11/27/25	229.26	228.60	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    14,868 916 957 15,000
Workforce Participation Number Percent	2%	300	11/13/2025	+0.023% +0.135%	11/27/25	297.14	296.74	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    In 163,580 622 657 694 Out 104,226 294 353 414 Total: 267,806 916 8,010 107 61.082 072 138 055
WP % (ycharts)*	1%	150	11/13/2025	-0.16%	10/25*	150.71	150.71	https://ycharts.com/indicators/labor_force_participation_rate 62.30 *
OUTGO	(15%)							* An official website of the United States government census.gov Notification Due to the lapse of federal funding, portions of this website are not being updated. Any inquiries submitted via www.census.gov will not be answered until appropriations are enacted.
Total Inflation	7%	1050	11/13/2025	+0.3%	10/25*	927.45	924.67	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     +0.4 .3
Food	2%	300	11/13/2025	+0.2%	10/25*	262.59	262.07	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     +0.5 .2
Gasoline	2%	300	11/13/2025	+4.1%	10/25*	255.11	247.53	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm    +1.9 4.1
Medical Costs	2%	300	11/13/2025	+0.3%	10/25*	274.20	273.37	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     -0.1 + .3
Shelter	2%	300	11/13/2025	+0.2%	10/25*	250.63	250.13	http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     +0.4 .2
WEALTH								An official website of the United States government census.gov Notification Due to the lapse of federal funding, portions of this website are not being updated. Any inquiries submitted via www.census.gov will not be answered until appropriations are enacted.
Dow Jones Index	2%	300	11/13/2025	-4.38%	11/27/25	360.20	344.40	https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/index/ 47,632.00 311.00 8,254.92 6,138.77
Home (Sales) (Valuation)	1% 1%	150 150	11/13/2025	+0.985% -1.75%	10/25*	125.77 272.70	127.01 272.70	https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics Sales (M):  4.06 4.10 Valuations (K):  415.2
Millionaires (New Category)	1%	150	11/13/2025	+0.05%	11/27/25	134.30	134.37	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    23,816 831 843 856
Paupers (New Category)	1%	150	11/13/2025	+0.021%	11/27/25	133.42	133.45	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    37,268 259 252 244
GOVERNMENT	(10%)
Revenue (trilns.)	2%	300	11/13/2025	+0.06%	11/27/25	458.71	458.97	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    5,266 254 257 261
Expenditures (tr.)	2%	300	11/13/2025	+0.48%	11/27/25	295.38	293.95	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    7,021 024 6,996 7,030
National Debt tr.)	3%	450	11/13/2025	+0.08%	11/27/25	354.24	353.96	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    38,048 161 190 220
Aggregate Debt (tr.)	3%	450	11/13/2025	+0.09%	11/27/25	377.76	377.41	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    105,067 177 270 368
TRADE	(5%)
Foreign Debt (tr.)	2%	300	11/13/2025	+0.16%	11/27/25	258.57	258.16	http://www.usdebtclock.org/    9,342 358 371 386
Exports (in billions)	1%	150	11/13/2025	+0.12%	10/25*	174.76	174.97	https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 280.5 280.8
Imports (in billions))	1%	150	11/13/2025	-5.41%	10/25*	151.56	159.75	https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 358.8 340.4
Trade Surplus/Deficit (blns.)	1%	150	11/13/2025	-33.62%	10/25*	253.88	339.23	https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 78.3 58.6
								An official website of the United States government census.gov Notification Due to the lapse of federal funding, portions of this website are not being updated. Any inquiries submitted via www.census.gov will not be answered until appropriations are enacted.
SOCIAL INDICES		(40%)
ACTS of MAN	(12%)
World Affairs	3%	450	11/13/2025	-0.1%	11/27/25	470.08	469.61	Hostilities rising between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Japan and SoKo vs China over someday attack on Taiwan, Gen Z demonstrations that forced regime change in Nepal and Madagascar spread to Mexico where Pres. Scheinbaum blames “international actors”.
War and terrorism	2%	300	11/13/2025	+0.1%	11/27/25	288.34	288.63	Iaraeli returns fifteen corpses to Gaza as UN approves US peace plan while settlers torch mosque in West Bank. Russians continue bombing and droning Kiev. Delhi bomber is arrested in India.
Politics	3%	450	11/13/2025	+0.1%	11/27/25	460.68	461.14	With America’s 250^th half a year away Ken Burns series calls “American Revolution” the birth of democracy, some now call old & sick. Jesse Jackson hospitalized for Parkinson’s. ICE raids pivot to N. Car. in “Charlotte’s Web”; DoJ allows Korean techsters back into US but most just say no. Fed data collection agencies recovering from shutdown but key indices still stuck in September; private investigators like Bank of America say wages falling behind inflation. At least live Christmas trees will be cheaper than tariffed aftificial Chinese, tho’ under pressure from worried Republicans (and Thanksgiving gluttons), President Trump rolls back tariffs on beef, tropical fruits and coffee, however...
Economics	3%	450	11/13/2025	+0.1%	11/27/25	429.64	430.07	...Starbucks strike still means no $7 coffee for you! TranSec Sean Duffy promises donkeys lower prices on coffee... and monkeys, on bananas. Ford jvs with Amazon to sell used cars, Sinclair and Scripps media merge and courts rule META is not a monopoly.
Crime	1%	150	11/13/2025	-0.1%	11/27/25	209.35	209.14	Chicago man sets woman on fire on a train. Road rager kills 11 year old in Vegas. College shooter kills beloved footblall coach in Oakland. Jets cornerback shot in Gotham. Home invaders target celebrities, athletes and rich people; police in Chile arrest some who returned home to spend their fortunes. Lesser thieves steal $10K in cards at Tom Brady’s emporium. Peep Eye the Sailor arrested for 7,000 kiddie porn pix.
ACTS of GOD	(6%)
Environment/Weather	3%	450	11/13/2025	nc	11/27/25	284.37	284.37	COP30 meets in Brazil (above) with America a no-show. Torrential rains on the West Coast cause flooding and, where wildfire burn scars exist, landslides. East of the Rockies, summer lingers... with record heat in Houston, Oklahoma City and 91° in Brownsville, TX.
Disasters	3%	450	11/13/2025	+0.2%	11/27/25	459.77	460.69	Shutdown ahutdown draws ATCs back to work so others can catch up on sleep and lessen likelihood of crashes. Toxic ammonia cloud causes dozens to sicken, thousands to evacuate in Oklahoma – but no fatalities.
LIFESTYLE/JUSTICE INDEX		(15%)
Science, Tech, Education	4%	600	11/13/2025	+0.4%	11/27/25	615.43	617.89	Mackenzie Swift (Mrs. Bezos) donates $700M to HBCUniversities. Bezos Blue Origen recyclable rocket tests A-OK in competition for Mars with Musk (and China). As Beijing threatens the world with warrior robots, Russia’s cyborg falls on its Putin face and breaks open.
Equality (econ/social)	4%	600	11/13/2025	nc	11/27/25	671.73	671.73	With shortage of childcare workers, advocates seek more than only the present 3% of men – cite satisfaction, influence. Problem: tiny pay.
Health	4%	600	11/13/2025	-0.3%	11/27/25	419.24	417.98	USA adds obesity to reasons for denial of visas. Go home, you fat rich Arabs – take your dinars with you! Killer Lone Star tick bites cause alpha-gal allergies to meat. Mites killing honeybees alarm pollination scientists. As CDC condemns “ultra-processed foors”, Cheetos and Doritos go naked, removing carcinogenic food colorings; snackers clean, but despondent. Recalls include 113K Jeeps that catch fire, 126K Teslas (but fewer Musk-y arsons reported), 600K engine-failing Hondas.
Freedom and Justice	3%	450	11/13/2025	nc	11/27/25	481.61	481.61	New York voters overturn ban on horsedrawn carriages in Central Park while S. Carolina executes convict via firing squad. Singar DAVD charged for old cold case of dead teen in his car trunk; homeowner who shot cleaning woman who went to wrong address arrested. DoJ targets more dissident Dems like Cali Rep. and failed Presidential candidate Eric Swalwell, lower Fed judge says ADA Halligan bungled Comey arrest and Texas twice stepped on by jurists to order takedown of Ten Commandments in schools and repeal of gerrymandering. OJ’s estate offers Ron Goldman family a $58M settlement, but is worth only $500K less a $600K tax lien,
CULTURAL and MISCELLANEOUS INCIDENTS			(6%)
Cultural incidents	3%	450	11/13/2025	+0.1%	11/27/25	571.70	572.27	Cynthia Erivo saves Ariana Grande from “public nuisance” at “Wicked 2” premiere in Singapore. Sequellismo continues as “Now You See It 3” tops B.O. with “W2”;“Zoolander” and “Running Man” remakes up next. Tom Cruise and Dolly Partin win honorary Oscars; Bad Bunny wins at Latin Grammies, Lainie Wilson sweeps (and hosts!) CMAwards (Little Nas X wins arrest for dancing in the street in his tighty whities). Lebron James returns to the Lakers; gambling probe shifts from NBA to NCAA; NFL features five walk-off wins. Shohei Otani and Aaron Judge win MBL MVPs. Tiny Curacao and troubled Haiti qualify for World Cup. RIP: newscaster Jim Avila, Japanese samurai star Tatsuya Nakadai (“Ran”), and... the penny (aged 232).
Miscellaneous incidents	4%	450	11/13/2025	+0.1%	11/27/25	542.32	542.86	Fighting food advisers dispute cost of Thanksgiving meals with differing estimates on turkeys etc. TV-conomists suggest using AI to plan, in that printed sumermarket ads vanishing faster than drumsticks.

The Don Jones Index for the week of November 13^th through November 19^th, 2025 was UP 58.68 points*

The Don Jones Index is sponsored by the Coalition for a New Consensus: retired Congressman and Independent Presidential candidate Jack “Catfish” Parnell, Chairman; Brian Doohan, Administrator. The CNC denies, emphatically, allegations that the organization, as well as any of its officers (including former Congressman Parnell, environmentalist/America-Firster Austin Tillerman and cosmetics CEO Rayna Finch) and references to Parnell’s works, “Entropy and Renaissance” and “The Coming Kill-Off” are fictitious or, at best, mere pawns in the web-serial “Black Helicopters” – and promise swift, effective legal action against parties promulgating this and/or other such slanders.

Comments, complaints, donations (especially SUPERPAC donations) always welcome at feedme@generisis.com or: speak@donjonesindex.com.

* per hourly wage decision, above

ATTACHMENT ONE – FROM GUK

MAJOR US BROADCASTERS SIT OUT COP30 CLIMATE TALKS: ‘THEY’RE MISSING A LOT’

Figures show none of US ‘big four’ – CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox – appear to have sent teams to cover summit in Belém

By Dharna Noor and Jonathan Watts in Belém Thu 13 Nov 2025 11.00 EST

Thousands of media professionals are at the United Nations climate talks in Brazil. Almost none of them appear to be from the four major US broadcasters.

Nearly 4,000 members of the media registered to attend the global climate conference, known as Cop30, according to a preliminary list released by the United Nations climate body on Tuesday. But none of the “big four” US broadcasters – CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox – appear to currently have teams present at the talks.

According to the list, no representatives from CBS, NBC or Fox signed up to attend the talks. Two US staffers from ABC signed up to attend, and though they are reporting on the summit, it is unclear if they are in Brazil.

The big four television outlets also appear not to be covering the climate negotiations in a significant way. In a review of TV coverage of Cop30 shared exclusively with the Guardian, the non-profit Media Matters found that weekday morning and evening national news shows on ABC, CBS and NBC had not covered Cop30 from 6 November through 11 November. Fox News aired two segments that totalled roughly five minutes of coverage, one of which promoted “anti-climate narratives”, Media Matters said.

The Guardian has contacted all four major broadcasters for comment.

It was “unimaginable” that major western broadcasters would choose to sit out the talks, said Stefano Wrobleski, director of InfoAmazonia, a non-profit independent media outlet focused on the Amazonian region.

“I can’t see how or why an outlet with funds would choose not to come to Brazil for this,” he said. “We are here and we have a much smaller budget than the big outlets in the US.”

This year, the US has failed to send a delegation to the UN climate talks for the first time. Donald Trump, who calls climate action a “scam”, pulled the US from the Paris climate agreement in January.

But the absence of US officials should not be an excuse to ignore the talks, said Wrobleski.

“News is still happening here,” he said. “It’s not as though because Trump isn’t here, because the US didn’t send a delegation, this is not newsworthy.”

Mark Hertsgaard, executive director of the New York-based Covering Climate Now, of which the Guardian is a founding member, said he immediately noticed the lack of US-based TV news reporters at Cop30.

“Most climate journalists I’ve spoken with privately want to be here – it’s their newsroom managers and corporate bosses who’ve decided against it,” he told the Guardian. “The rationale is usually budgets – it costs money to fly journalists to Belém, house them, etc.”

News budgets are shrinking @GET in the US amid slowed advertising growth, but “how newsrooms spend their limited budgets still reflects the editorial priorities of those newsrooms”, said Hertsgaard, who added that the scaling back comes amid visible evidence of the dangers of the climate crisis in recent weeks with the typhoon in the Philippines and Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica.

Logistical issues have made it difficult for some attending Cop30 to find affordable lodging. But there is “no good reason”, Hertsgaard said, that those challenges should have stopped major US outlets from attending.

“It’s difficult and expensive to go to any Cop, and not only Cop, but so many major events,” he said, adding that there was “too much of a narrative” that a city such as Belém was “not the richest”.

If that is the case, publications seem to be deprioritizing climate coverage. That includes large TV networks, several of which have seen major layoffs in recent years. Climate reporting has been harshly affected by outlets’ staffing cuts. Last month, CBS reportedly laid off most of its climate team shortly after the arrival of its controversial new editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss. Environmental reporters and editors have also been cut from publications from CNN and the LA Times, to HuffPost and Vice.

Perhaps due in part to workforce reductions, US broadcasters’ climate coverage has been on the decline. Last year, US corporate broadcast networks aired 12 hours and 51 minutes of climate coverage in 2024, according to a separate analysis from Media Matters – a 25% decline in volume of coverage from 2023.

InfoAmazonia did not just send a team to cover Cop30: Wrobleski and his team also organized accommodations for more than a dozen Indigenous and local journalists from around the Amazon region to stay. The group is staying in a house 20 minutes from the Cop venue, where the organizers are hosting briefings with social movements, political leaders and others.

“We’ve managed to come here. We’ve managed to bring much smaller outlets here,” he said.

It would have been well worth the effort for outlets to send teams to the talks, Wrobleski said. “It’s the first Cop in the Amazon, and the whole city is alive with Cop,” he said. “They’re missing a lot.”

ATTACHMENT TWO – FROM WIKI

The 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, more commonly known as COP30, is the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference, being held in the Hangar Convention Centre [pt], Belém, Brazil, from 10 to 21 November 2025.^[1]

The city's candidacy was announced by Brazilian president Lula da Silva during his visit to the COP27 and made official in January 2023.

The BBC reported that the summit has been used as a justification to build a new highway cutting through the rainforest. The COP30 organizers and the state of Pará have denied any direct links.

Pre-conference

Helder Barbalho, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Mauro Vieira when Belém was announced to be hosting the event, May 2023

The city's candidacy was announced in 2022 by Brazilian president Lula da Silva during his visit to the COP27, held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt,^[2] and made official in January 2023.^[3][4]

A series of construction and revitalization works conducted by the local government took place aiming to improve the city's infrastructure with sustainable techniques. A new square was made surrounding one of the city's main avenues, as well as the sewage and the anti-flooding systems were stepped up.^[5][6]

In January 2025, President Lula appointed Brazilian diplomat André Corrêa do Lago [pt] as the COP's president.^[7] The decision was praised by Brazilian climate activists given Lago's history of leading climate justice discussions, among other things.^[8] Lago is a veteran diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a longtime climate negotiator.^[9]

On 4 November, President Lula signed a law that temporarily transfers the Brazilian national capital symbolically from Brasília to Belém during the conference, and takes effect from 11 to 21 November 2025. During these periods, all acts and orders from President, Ministers, and other agencies must be signed and registered in Belém. Furthermore, executive, legislative, and judiciary branches may conduct their activities from COP30 host city.^[10] The law was approved by Brazilian National Congress on 7 October 2025.^[11]

Organizational challenges

The preparation for Belém to host COP30 has faced significant challenges, notably an accommodation crisis and controversies surrounding urban infrastructure projects.^[12] Broader questions have also been raised regarding pollution, social inequality, and deforestation in the Amazon.^[13][14][15]

The aircraft field, which still had since at least 2010, an old abandoned EMB110 Bandeirante Ex Votec aircraft located at coordinates 1°24'59.58"S 48°27'35.74"W PT-GJB and other two at locations 1°24'59.12"S 48°27'35.91"W and 1°24'58.58"S 48°27'36.49"W, for example an Embraer EMB-110P1 Bandeirante Ex TABA Transportes Aéreos Regionais da Bacia Amazónica PT-OHE, among many other rest of aircraft, were removed, but not known if appropriate aluminium recycled, and even many trees destroyed to give place for a square called "Parque da Cidade".^[16][17]

Accomodation

Months before the event, reports of extreme price gouging for lodging have emerged. Some listings on platforms like Airbnb were priced as high as US$9,320 per day, up from a normal rate of $11, while a one-person flat on Booking.com was offered for $15,266 per night.^[18] These figures supported claims of widespread real estate speculation, with the Brazilian government itself describing prices as "extremely high and incomprehensible".^[19]

In response, the Federal government of Brazil announced measures to curb abusive pricing and stated it would make 26,000 additional lodging beds available, utilizing cruise ships, schools, new hotels, and military facilities.^[20] However, a previously announced price-regulating agreement with the hotel industry remained unsigned by July 2025, facing resistance from the sector.^[18] The Brazil Government rented ships for accommodation moored at the Pier Outreiro, reconstructed, namely the MSC Seaview and the Costa Diadema, both for 15 days of the event and the biggest passengers ships even in city, each with a room for at least US$ 220 per day.^[21]

The crisis for lodgings prompted a strong international reaction, with 27 countries signing a letter demanding solutions and some nations pressuring Brazil to move the event to another city.^[12] The high costs remained the primary obstacle for attendees, with a UN survey in August 2025 revealing that only 18 of 147 responding nations had secured accommodation.^[22] The situation led delegations, such as Austria's, to cancel their participation and also impacted local tenants, who reported being asked by landlords to vacate their homes to make way for high-paying visitors.^[23] Many official delegations also opted to bring fewer people to COP30 due to the shortage of accommodation and highly inflated room prices, as reported by The Guardian ahead of the event’s opening.^[24]

For the first time among other VIP aircraft, at Belém Airport, landed an A330-200 of China, an A330-200 of France Government, A340-300 Qatar and an A350-900 from German Government.^[25]

Highway construction controversy

Another point of contention is the construction of a new four-lane highway, Avenida Liberdade. A BBC report in March 2025 described the project as being underway to ease traffic in preparation for COP30.^[26] The project has drawn criticism from conservationists and residents for its impact on the Amazon rainforest, biodiversity, and local communities.^[27] Official organizers and the state of Pará have disputed the highway's connection to the conference. The organizers called the BBC's headline "misleading," stating the project is not a federal responsibility nor part of the official COP30 infrastructure plan.^[28] The state government similarly denied the link, underlining that the project was planned as early as 2020—before Belém was chosen as the host city—and received no federal funds for its execution.^[29] However, critics note that while the project has been discussed since 2012, the COP may have provided the final justification to begin construction.^[29] The state of Pará had also previously cited the conference as one of the interests served by the project.^[30]

Costs

COP30 is said to have cost the Brazilian government R$946.9 million in contracts with the OEI^{[expand acronym]}, but total expenses may reach around R$5 billion, including additional costs such as the rental of cruise ships.^[31] On the other hand, exhibition spaces started at US$1,250 per m² for the lowest tier, with higher-priced options available. Bronze: Starts at US$1,250 per m². Silver: US$1,350 per m². Gold: US$1,500 per m².^{[citation needed]}

Attendance

The United States for the first time in COP history did not send representatives to the summit, after the Trump administration closed its office of climate diplomacy.^[32][33][34] However, California Governor Gavin Newsom attended in an unofficial capacity.^[35] The California governor has vocally criticized Trump and his administration for withdrawing from the summit and regressing on various climate goals. Newsom leads an alternate US delegation which comprises more than 100 elected US officials, and is a part of the US Climate Alliance of 24 governors.^[36]

COP30 is the second-largest COP in history with 56,118 delegates registered, behind only COP28 in Dubai which was attended by more than 80,000 people. Host country Brazil has the largest delegation with 3,805 people registered, followed by China (789) and Nigeria (749).^[37]

Conference issues

One European aid charity, Christian Aid, had stated that the three main outcomes they would be looking for are:^[38]

1. agreement among developed country governments on "how they would provide the $300bn in climate finance that they committed to at COP29";

2. all governments to "commit to stopping new investments in fossil fuels" and to support a just mechanism allowing developed countries at national level to transition to low carbon economies in a socially just way;

3. more ambitious commitments from countries aiming to go beyond their existing commitments and to submit suitably ambitious future climate change plans.

Specific conference issues for discussion and decision include:

Nationally determined contributions

The updated Nationally Determined Contributions, as set out in the Paris Agreement, were to be published by every country by February 2025. As of April 2025, only 19 countries have submitted theirs.^[39] By September 2025 around 100 countries submitted or unveiled new Nationally Determined Contributions climate targets.^[40] After analyzing 64 new Nationally Determined Contributions submitted from January to September 2025, and some climate targets of other countries, the United Nations suggested global emissions could fall by 10% by the year 2035, in comparison to the level in 2019. However, this is based on the suggestion that the United States will continue its climate policy from the Biden era, and is still much lower than the 60% reduction needed to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.^[41] On November 11, after receiving NDCs from 113 parties, the UN raised its estimate on emissions reduction by the year 2035, to 12%.^[42]

Super Pollutants

The Climate and Clean Air Coalition launched the Super Pollutant Country Action Accelerator, a programme to help governments reduce super pollutant emissions. The plan is to engage up to 30 countries by 2030 and to mobilise USD 150 million. 7 countries—Brazil, Cambodia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Nigeria, and South Africa choosen for their strong climate policy, will receive an initial package of $25 million to advance their efforts.^[43] The name "Super pollutants" is attributed to atmospheric pollutants which have greater global warming potential than carbon dioxide per tonne, and responsible for around half of the current warming. Those include methane contributing around 30% of the current warming, carbon monoxide and NMVOC which contribute together around 10%, fluorinated gases, nitrous oxide, and black carbon each contributing around 5%. Part of them also cause air pollution, and some of them do not stay for a long time in the atmosphere, therfore cutting their emissions can fastly benefit climate and air quality.^[44]

Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T

Parties at COP29 in Baku agreed for "all actors to work together to enable the scaling up of financing to developing country Parties for climate action from all public and private sources to at least USD 1.3 trillion per year by 2035", as the "Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T".^[45] Negotiations are expected on how international climate finance is to be scaled from the $300 billion agreed in Baku to the $1.3 trillion.^[46]

Tropical Forest Forever Facility

Brazil, the COP30 presidency, launched the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) as a signature achievement in Belém.^[47] The US$125 billion blended-finance investment fund aims to finalise investments from sovereign funders by COP30 to begin payouts to reward forest conservation in tropical countries in 2026.^[48]

Further details were expected after the SB 62 conference in Bonn in June 2025.^[49]

Climate Coalition

Brazil proposes a Climate Coalition to integrate carbon markets, including a border carbon adjustment to non-members, similar to the G7 climate club initiative.^[50] It is the main Brazilian proposal for the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference. The plan is to create a global emissions cap beginning with a level close to current emissions rate, and then reducing it until reaching net-zero by 2050. For any activity which causes emissions, people would buy allowances. As the cap decreases, the cost of the allowances will increase, creating an incentive for decarbonization. There will be a border adjustment mechanism governed by all participants. Poorer countries can not pay or pay less and part of the revenue will be spent on helping them address the climate crisis. The idea could become one of the major outcomes of COP30. According to Rafael Dubeux, deputy executive secretary of the Ministry of Finance: "All that is needed is a coalition strong enough to move forward. If it includes Brazil, the EU, and China, it could encourage others to join. Another relevant player is California, which—if it were a country—would rank as the world’s fourth-largest economy." “We expect to have a joint declaration from countries at COP30 to establish the coalition,”.^[51][52]

According to a report from Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology it would result in:^[53]

· Coalition members cut emissions seven times faster than today.

· $200 billion per year for clean-energy and social programs.

· A moderate rise in prices in some industries, with negligible losses for producers.

To advance the idea, the Open Coalition on Compliance Carbon Markets was created. It includes Brazil, China, the European Union, United Kingdom, Canada, Chile, Germany, Mexico, Armenia, Zambia, France, Rwanda and is open to new members.^[54]

Gender Action Plan

UN Women called for the adoption of a strengthened Gender Action Plan. The agency emphasized that women and girls are disproportionately affected by climate change, while also being key actors in climate adaptation, resilience and community leadership. UN Women urged governments participating in COP30 to ensure that gender equality is integrated across climate decision-making, finance mechanisms, and implementation policies, framing women’s leadership as essential for effective climate action.^[55][56]

Global Initiative on Information Integrity on Climate Change

Climate misinformation and information integrity were on the COP agenda for the first time. At the opening of the conference, President Lula de Silva called for a fight against climate change "deniers." "We live in a time when obscurantists reject scientific evidence and attack institutions. It is time to deal another defeat to denial," Lula said, adding that COP 30 would be the "COP of truth" in an era of "fake news and misinformation." The Global Initiative for Climate Change Information Integrity presented the Declaration on Climate Change Information Integrity at the conference. The nations signing the declaration have committed to combating false and misleading information about climate change. The declaration was originally signed by 12 countries: Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Uruguay.^[57][58]

COP31

Australia and Turkey both want to host, but if there is no agreement, the 2026 conference will be in Bonn.^[59]

Protest

On 11 November, a group of protesters forced their way into the summit's venue and clashed with security guards. Among the protesters were many indigenous people, including a leader from the Tupinambá community. A number of security personnel were injured, and many batons were confiscated from demonstrators.^[60]

A 'Barqueata' with local precarious boats were made.^[61]

Cultural responses

Spanish conceptual artist Josep Piñol Curto created the project Evitada (Avoided) in response to COP30. Originally conceived as a monumental sculpture for the host city of Belém, the work was ultimately not built. Piñol transformed this cancellation into a conceptual critique of greenwashing and carbon offset mechanisms, issuing symbolic carbon credits for the 57,765 tonnes of CO₂ emissions that were "avoided" by not producing the sculpture.^[62][63]

Opinion

Friedrich Merz expressed himself at a Commerce Chamber Ladies and gentlemen, we live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world. I asked some journalists, who were with me in Brazil last week: 'Who among you would like to stay longer here ?' No one raised their hand. Everyone was happy that we had returned to Germany on Friday night, especially from that place where we were. The bad Conditions of City and State is most confirmed even by brazilians at commentaries. An exotic place without basic sewage for most.^[64] It is not known, after this speech, if the German politician would still give a lost money to Brazil, even in small quantity.

See also

· Earth Summit

References

1. "Information for COP 30 participants (A-Z)". UNFCCC. Archived from the original on 2025-10-09. Retrieved 2025-11-10.

2.  Alves, Ana Rosa (2023-05-26). "Governo confirma que Belém sediará COP30, em meio a tensões entre Congresso e MMA". O Globo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2023-05-26.

3. "ONU confirma Belém como sede da COP30, anuncia Lula" (in Brazilian Portuguese). Poder 360. 2023-05-26. Retrieved 2023-05-26.

4. "ONU escolhe Belém para ser sede da COP 30". Metropolis (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2023-05-26. Retrieved 2023-05-26.

5. "Nova Doca: planejada para a COP 30, obra no centro de Belém prevê passarela com mirante, quiosques e playground". G1 (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2024-05-07. Retrieved 2025-01-22.

6. "Belém entrega obra de prevenção a enchentes para a COP30". Exame (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2025-01-13. Retrieved 2025-01-24.

7. Harvey, Fiona (2025-01-21). "Brazil appoints veteran diplomat as Cop30 president for November summit". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-01-24.

8. Civillini, Matteo (2025-01-21). "Brazil appoints veteran climate diplomat André Correa do Lago as COP30 president". Climate Home News. Retrieved 2025-01-24.

9. "Quem é André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, escolhido para presidir a COP-30". CartaCapital (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2025-01-21. Retrieved 2025-01-24.

10. "Lula sanciona lei que transfere a capital do Brasil para Belém durante a COP30". CartaCapital (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2025-11-04. Retrieved 2025-11-05.

11. "COP30: Brazil moves its capital to focus on the Amazon as Lula seeks to engage global leaders". Noticias Ambientales. 2025-10-09. Retrieved 2025-11-05.

12. "Presidente da COP30 diz que países pediram retirada do evento de Belém por preços 'extorsivos' em hotéis". G1. 2025-07-31. Retrieved 2025-08-22.

13. "COP30 no Brasil não pode ser decidida por quem quer colonizar Marte, diz Tainá Marajoara". Brasil de Fato (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2024-06-10. Retrieved 2025-01-22.

14. "Os problemas que Belém precisa resolver antes da COP30". Brasil de Fato (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2024-03-13. Retrieved 2025-01-22.

15. "A controversa COP-30 e os problemas reais de Belém do Pará". Gazeta do Povo (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2024-12-31. Retrieved 2025-01-22.

16. "Aeroclube de Belém (PA) será desativado e transformado em parque público" [Belém (PA) Aeroclub to be deactivated and transformed into a public park]. Turismo em foco (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2020-11-12. Retrieved 2025-11-11.

17. "Onde vai ser a COP30? Veja como área de antigo aeroporto vai receber conferência em Belém". G1 (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2025-11-11.

18. "COP30: imbróglio entre governo e hotéis por preço de diárias em Belém segue emperrado, entenda a crise". G1. 2025-07-20. Retrieved 2025-08-22.

19. Maisonnave, Fabiano (2025-02-03). "Surreal prices for COP30 in Brazil's Amazon leave attendees scrambling for accommodation". AP News. Retrieved 2025-02-03.

20. "Governo federal propõe acordo com hotéis de Belém para evitar preços 'abusivos' na COP30". G1. 2025-04-17. Retrieved 2025-08-22.

21. "Brasil ensures accommodation for all countries at COP30". cop30.br. 2025-07-16.

22. "A três meses da COP30, um quarto dos países participantes tem hospedagem confirmada". O Globo. 2025-08-22. Retrieved 2025-08-22.

23. "COP 30: inquilinos dizem que foram obrigados por proprietários a deixar imóveis alugados em Belém; 'era meu lar', lamenta moradora". G1. 2025-08-22. Retrieved 2025-08-22.

24.  Watts, Jonathan (2025-11-05). "A meeting of voices': flotillas head into Belém ahead of Cop30 climate summit". The Guardian. Retrieved 2025-11-05.

25. "Airbus A330 da China e A340 do Catar são dois dos primeiros jatos estrangeiros a chegar a Belém para a COP30". Aeroin (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2025-11-11.

26. "Amazon forest felled to build road for climate summit". BBC News. 2025-03-12.

27. "UPDATE – Road to Belem: Highway project to COP30 cuts through Amazon, as Brazil's Atlantic Forest sees "alarming" illegal deforestation". Carbon Pulse. Retrieved 2025-03-21.

28. "Note on the report about construction works on Avenida Liberdade in Belém". cop30.br. 2025-03-13. Retrieved 2025-03-21.

29. "Brazil state hosting COP30 denies new road linked to climate summit". Reuters. 2025-03-18. Retrieved 2025-03-21.

30. "Planeta Verde - Floresta desmatada para abrir avenida: obras em Belém para a COP30 falham na sustentabilidade". RFI (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2025-02-20. Retrieved 2025-03-21.

31. "Investimento do governo federal com a COP 30 está na ordem de R$ 5 bilhões". Rádio Itatiaia (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2025-11-11. Retrieved 2025-11-15.

32. "White House says it will not send any officials to COP30 climate talks". France24. 2025-11-01.

33.  Osborne, Louise; Kuebler, Martin (2025-03-26). "Scholz: US risks missing economic gains from climate action". DW. Retrieved 2025-04-26.

34. "US-Regierung schließt Büro für Klimadiplomatie". ORF.at (in Austrian German). 2025-04-26. Retrieved 2025-04-26.

35. "Fresh off redistricting win, Newsom to head to climate talks in Brazil". Politico. 2025-11-05.

36. Milman, Oliver; Noor, Dharna (2025-11-11). "California governor calls Trump 'an invasive species' at Cop30 climate talks". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-11-16.

37. "Analysis: Which countries have sent the most delegates to COP30?". Carbon Brief. 2025-11-11. Retrieved 2025-11-12.

38. "Why is Christian Aid at COP30?". Christian Aid. 2025-10-29. Retrieved 2025-10-31.

39. "Climate Watch NDC Tracker". climatewatchdata.org. 2025-04-14. Archived from the original on 2025-04-25. Retrieved 2025-04-14.

40. "Momentum Gathers Towards COP30 as Close to 100 Countries Signal New Climate Targets". UNFCCC. 2025-09-25. Retrieved 2025-11-10.

41. Abnett, Kate (2025-10-28). "Countries' new climate plans to start cutting global emissions, U.N. says". Reuters. Retrieved 2025-11-10.

42. "Update to NDC Synthesis Report shows the emissions curve is being bent downwards – but urgent acceleration still needed". UNFCCC. 2025-11-11. Retrieved 2025-11-12.

43. "CCAC Super Pollutant Country Action Accelerator". Climate&Clean Air Coalition. Retrieved 2025-11-18.

44. "Super Pollutants" (PDF). Climate&Clean Air Coalition. Retrieved 2025-11-18.

45.  Joe Lo; Vivian Chime; Mariel Lozada (2024-11-27). "Explainer: What happened at COP29?". Climate Home News. Retrieved 2025-04-14.

46. Bearak, Max (2024-11-23). "Climate Talks End With a Bitter Fight and a Deal on Money". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-04-14.

47. Andreoni, Manuela (2024-10-03). "An 'Elegant' Idea Could Pay Billions to Protect Trees". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2025-01-06. Retrieved 2025-04-14.

48.  Iglesias, Simone (2025-03-14). "Brazil Has a $125 Billion Plan to Make COP30 a Rare Climate Success". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 2025-04-14.

49. "June Climate Meetings (SB 62)". UNFCCC. Archived from the original on 2025-04-04. Retrieved 2025-04-26.

50. "Brazil proposes global integration of carbon markets at COP30". cop30.br. 2025-10-07. Retrieved 2025-10-27.

51. "Ministry of Finance proposes global coalition for carbon market". Valor International. 2025-09-12. Retrieved 2025-10-07.

52. Ainger, John (2025-09-23). "Brazil Lobbies EU, China to Join COP30 Carbon Market Coalition". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2025-10-07.

53. "Building a Climate Coalition: Aligning Carbon Pricing, Trade, and Development". The Salata Institute. 2025-09-16. Retrieved 2025-10-07.

54. "European Union endorses Leaders Declaration on Carbon Markets forged with Brazil at COP30 in Belém". European Comission. 2025-11-10. Retrieved 2025-11-12.

55. "UN Women calls for a strong Gender Action Plan at COP30 to keep gender equality as a central pillar for climate action". UN Women. 2025-11-10. Retrieved 2025-11-11.

56. Akintonde, Oluwasola (2025-11-11). "UN Women Urges Strong Gender Action Plan at COP30". Voice of Nigeria. Retrieved 2025-11-11.

57. "'COP of truth': Countries commit to tackling climate disinformation at UN climate summit". www.euronews.com. Retrieved 2025-11-18.

58. "Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change". Retrieved 2025-11-18.

59. "Australia's bid to host COP31 falters amid deadlock with Turkey". BBC News. 2025-11-10. Retrieved 2025-11-11.

60. "Dozens of protesters storm COP30 venue in Brazil". Sky News. 2025-11-12. Archived from the original on 2025-11-12. Retrieved 2025-11-12.

61. "Barqueata por justiça climática reúne mais de 200 embarcações em Belém". Projeto Colabora (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2025-11-12. Retrieved 2025-11-12.

62. "The work of art that sells avoided CO₂ to denounce climate greenwashing". Ara English. 2025-02-20. Retrieved 2025-10-17.

63. "Josep Piñol Issues "Cultural Degrowth Credits" to Counter Greenwashing". Surface Magazine. 2025-02-07. Retrieved 2025-10-17.

64. "Friedrich Merz dizendo que 'todos ficaram contentes' por ir embora 'daquele lugar em que estávamos'". G1. 2025-11-1

ATTACHMENT THREE – FROM THE NEW YORKER

November 10, 2025

In the spring of 1992, President George H. W. Bush flew to Brazil to reassure the world. Delegates from more than a hundred and seventy countries had gathered in Rio de Janeiro to hammer out a global treaty on climate change. The United States was, at that point, far and away the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and, in negotiations leading up to the summit, it had widely been seen as dragging its feet.

“When our children look back on this time and this place, they will be grateful that we met at Rio, and they will certainly be pleased with the intentions stated and the commitments made,” Bush said, shortly after signing the treaty. But, he added, “They will judge us by the actions we take from this day forward.”

This week, representatives of just about every country in the world—there are now more than a hundred and ninety—are gathering for what amounts to a Brazilian homecoming. This year’s climate-negotiating session, or COP (short for Conference of the Parties), is the thirtieth since the treaty negotiated in Rio went into effect, and it’s taking place at the mouth of the Amazon River, in the city of Belém. For COP30, the U.S. won’t be sending its President or any other high-ranking officials to offer encouragement. On the contrary.

In a recent speech to the United Nations, President Donald Trump called climate science “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” and he has set himself against all efforts to limit warming, at home and abroad. He has cancelled dozens of clean-energy projects (including some that were mostly finished), forced coal-burning power plants due for retirement to remain open, and gutted the agencies that monitor changes to the oceans and atmosphere. And he’s bullying other nations into following suit. Last month, at a meeting in London, Trump Administration officials went so far as to threaten international diplomats negotiating a pact to cut emissions from shipping. According to the Financial Times, some of diplomats were warned that, if they voted for the pact, they might find themselves unable to enter the U.S. in the future. The Brazilian delegation complained of tactics “that should never be used among sovereign nations.” It added, “We hope that this is not replacing negotiations as the normal way for us to make global decisions, for otherwise, there will be no more decisions to be made.”

The original climate treaty, which was approved by the U.S. Senate, without debate, committed the world to the vital if vague goal of avoiding “dangerous” warming. By many measures, that threshold has already been breached. The year 2023 was, by a wide margin, the warmest on record, until it was exceeded by 2024. A report issued last month by more than a hundred and fifty scientists warned that the world’s coral reefs are fated to die off; even under the “most optimistic” scenarios, ocean temperatures will be too high for them to survive. The Amazon rain forest and the Greenland ice sheet, the report stated, may similarly be destined for “irreversible collapse.”

In the first six months of this year, the cost of climate-related disasters in the U.S. set a new record: a hundred and one billion dollars. (Though the Trump Administration has stopped keeping track of such costs, the nonprofit group Climate Central has continued to gather the data.) Worldwide, every other week seems to bring a new climate-related crisis. Hurricane Melissa, which roared across Jamaica, Cuba, and Haiti last month, exploded from a Category 1 storm to a Category 5 in less than a day. Melissa, which killed at least seventy-five people, was “kind of a textbook example of what we expect in terms of how hurricanes respond to a warming climate,” Brian Soden, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Miami, told Wired. A second scientific report released last month announced the start of a “a grim new chapter for life on Earth.”

Increasingly, the response to all this has seemed to be a dulled acceptance. In the lead-up to this year’s COP, every country was supposed to announce an emissions target for itself, extending through 2035. The U.S.submitted such a target in the last month of the Biden Administration; it is now considered largely meaningless. Last week, China submitted its target, which was widely described as inadequate. Brazil’s target, too, has been criticized as insufficient. And, just a few weeks ago, the Brazilian government decided, for the first time, to allow oil drilling near the mouth of the Amazon. Critics called the move “an act of sabotage against the COP.” Marina Silva, the country’s environmental minister, defended the move, saying that Brazil has so far only approved oil exploration in the area and that, in any case, oil drilling is “perfectly compatible” with Brazil’s long-term plans to transition away from fossil fuels.

In the midst of the back-and-forth over Brazil’s move, Bill Gates weighed in with a memo to COP delegates. In it, Gates noted that the world’s poorest people are also the most vulnerable to the effects of rising temperatures. But, he said, these people have more acute problems than warming—namely, being poor. Therefore, he argued, money now spent on reducing emissions would be better spent on encouraging economic growth: “Health and prosperity are the best defense against climate change.”

Gates’s comments generated a swirl of attention, in part because, just a few years ago, he wrote a book warning of a “climate disaster.” Trump, on Truth Social, characterized the memo as an admission by Gates that he had been “completely WRONG,” and cited it as evidence that “I (WE!) just won the War on the Climate Change Hoax.” Gates countered Trump’s crowing by saying that it represented a “gigantic misreading of the memo.”

It is understandable, in the age of Trump, that people—billionaires included—would want to focus on more tractable problems than climate change, even if those problems are as immense as global poverty. After thirty years—or thirty-three, if you’re counting from Rio—it’s hard not to be discouraged by all that has, and hasn’t, happened. But there is no getting away from climate change. All other problems, poverty included, are linked to it and will be exacerbated by it. The notion that you can alleviate suffering in a world of uncontrolled warming isn’t just shortsighted, it edges toward magical thinking. ♦

New Yorker Favorites

· In the weeks before John Wayne Gacy’s scheduled execution, he was far from reconciled to his fate.

· What HBO’s “Chernobyl” got right, and what it got terribly wrong.

· Why does the Bible end that way?

· A new era of strength competitions is testing the limits of the human body.

· How an unemployed blogger confirmed that Syria had used chemical weapons.

· An essay by Toni Morrison: “The Work You Do, the Person You Are.”

Sign up for our daily newsletter to receive the best stories from The New Yorker.

Elizabeth Kolbert, a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1999, won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction for “The Sixth Extinction.” Her other books include “Life on a Little-Known Planet” (November, 2025).

ATTACHMENT FOUR – FROM GUK

THIRTY YEARS OF CLIMATE SUMMITS: WHERE HAVE THEY GOT US?

Highlights and lowlights of Cop since Rio 1992, when countries set up a system to tackle climate crisis

By Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent Sat 11 Jun 2022 07.00 EDT

It has been 30 years since the Rio summit, when a global system was set up that would bring countries together on a regular basis to try to solve the climate crisis. Here are the highlights and lowlights since then.

1995: Berlin

After a few years of preparation, the very first conference of the parties took place in Berlin, setting the format for Cops to come. It soon became clear that countries needed a way to put the aims of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC) – to avoid dangerous anthropogenic interference in the climate system – into practice, through curbs on greenhouse gas emissions.

1997: Kyoto

For the first time, a target was set for reducing greenhouse gas emissions: the aim was to bring them down by about 5%, compared with 1990 levels, by 2012, with all developed countries taking on national targets while developing countries were allowed to continue increasing their emissions.

But the US Congress would not ratify the treaty, which meant the protocol could not come into operation. Cops continued each following year but there seemed to be no way round the central political impasse.

2004: Buenos Aires

And then the Kyoto protocol was rescued from the scrap heap of history by an unexpected source – Russia. It wanted to join the World Trade Organization and offered ratification of the protocol as a quid pro quo.

Russia’s decision, in October 2004, brought the protocol into legal force. But with the US still against the protocol, it could only ever have a limited impact. Eventually, most countries fulfilled the narrow terms of their Kyoto commitments but this had little effect on global emissions as China and the US continued to increase their carbon output throughout the 2000s, with China overtaking the US as the biggest source of emissions.

2006: Bali

With the Kyoto protocol in effect, but largely toothless, the UN realised it would have to find a new way forward. And so Yvo de Boer, appointed as executive secretary of the UNFCCC in 2006, proposed a roadmap that would lead to a replacement for or successor to the Kyoto protocol that would involve all countries. The fractious and taut meeting carried on long past the Friday deadline for the end of talks, as the US delegation – on the line constantly to the George W Bush White House – refused to agree to anything. Finally, as developing country delegates grew more exasperated, one took the floor. Kevin Conrad, of Papua New Guinea, told the US: “We ask for your leadership, we seek your leadership, but if you’re not willing to lead, please get out of the way.”

With that, the US finally agreed to sign up to the Bali roadmap, with as its end goal a deal on emissions to be signed by the end of 2009.

2009: Copenhagen

Hopes were high at Copenhagen that a deal to replace the Kyoto protocol could be signed by all countries, developed and developing. But as the conference drew closer, it became apparent that a fully fledged new treaty was not going to happen and officials tried to dampen expectations in the preceding months by making it clear that Copenhagen would produce only a “political declaration”.

In the event, even that proved nearly impossible to achieve. The Danes lost control of the complex UNFCCC procedures and China was reluctant to sign up to any deal that implied it would cut its emissions. World leaders flying in for the final day of the conference were greeted by scenes of chaos.

Barack Obama and other leaders in the end succeeded in signing up all of the world’s major emitters, including China, to agree targets on greenhouse gas emissions for 2020. But that achievement – which marked the first time developed and developing countries had jointly agreed to take responsibility for reducing greenhouse gases – was largely ignored by the rest of the world, who saw only the discord and dismay.

2010: Cancún

At Cancún, the political declaration reached in Copenhagen was finally passed into legal form, by a series of Cop decisions under the UNFCCC. The Cancún accords formalised the national targets of all countries, up to 2020.

2011: Durban

The failure to write a new protocol or legally binding treaty at Copenhagen revealed the fragility of the UN process. Luckily the then EU climate commissioner, Connie Hedegaard, had a plan to get the countries to agree a roadmap to a new treaty – the plan that eventually led to the Paris agreement.

The EU faced opposition from China and India, and the talks dragged on long past their Friday deadline. But the EU did not cave, and instead gathered a coalition of developed and developing countries. Isolated, China and India gave way and the world embarked on the road to Paris.

2015: Paris

The French were determined to avoid the mistakes of Copenhagen and spent the year before the conference engaged in non-stop “360 degree diplomacy”. World leaders flew in for the start, to instruct their teams on achieving agreement, and some of the thorniest issues were finessed – the promise of $100bn to poor countries made at Copenhagen was reaffirmed, the national targets for emissions cuts were put in a non-binding annexe to the legally binding treaty, and the question of whether to set a temperature limit of 1.5C or 2C resolved by including both.

The final agreement marked the first time that countries had set a global limit on temperatures that all were pledged to meet.

2021: Glasgow

Delayed by a year because of the Covid pandemic, Cop26 was always going to be a crucial Cop. The national commitments, known as NDCs, that countries brought to the Paris agreement were inadequate to hold the world to 2C, so more stringent targets were essential. New science also showed how dangerous reaching 2C would be, so a key goal for the UK hosts – to reach a deal that countries would aim to limit global heating to 1.5C – was achieved, and countries also agreed – despite a last minute hitch following objections from China and India – to phase down coal.

The agreement was fragile – but it represented substantial progress as countries agreed to return in 2022 and every year thereafter with tougher national plans on emissions cuts.

2022: Forward to the future and Egypt

The ink was hardly dry on the Glasgow pact when the world began to change in ways potentially disastrous for hopes of tackling the climate crisis. Energy and food price rises mean that governments face a cost of living and energy security crisis, with some threatening to respond by returning to fossil fuels, including coal.

However, the war in Ukraine strengthens the argument for renewable energy, which compares favourably to high fossil fuel prices. It has also made energy and climate into top national security issues, which should gain government attention.

But the geopolitical shifts mean Egypt – broadly friendly to Russia, on which it relies for grain, some fuel and tourism – will face a diplomatically tricky task.

 This article was amended on 11 July 2022 because an earlier version said that at the Glasgow climate conference, countries agreed to phase out coal. The agreement was to phase down, not phase out, coal.

ATTACHMENT FIVE – FROM REUTERS

TRUMP TELLS UN THAT CLIMATE CHANGE IS 'GREATEST CON JOB' GLOBALLY

By Valerie Volcovici September 23, 2025 1:25 PM EDT Sept 23 (Reuters)

President Donald Trump dismissed climate change as “the greatest con job” in the world during his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, doubling down on his skepticism of global environmental initiatives and multilateral institutions.

Scientists say climate change is real, mostly caused by humans, and getting worse. They point to rising temperatures, stronger storms, and melting ice as clear signs. Groups like the UN have warned that waiting too long to act could cause serious damage to the planet and people.

Trump spoke for several minutes out of his near-hour speech on climate change during his address to the United Nations General Assembly, criticizing the European Union for reducing its carbon footprint, which he claimed has taken a toll on its economy, and warning countries that have invested heavily in renewable energy that their economies will suffer.

"It's the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion," Trump told the General Assembly. "All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong."

He added: "They were made by stupid people that have cost their country's fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success."

SECOND US WITHDRAWAL FROM CLIMATE PACT

Once Trump took office in January, the U.S. submitted its withdrawal for a second time from the Paris Agreement, a 2015 pact agreed by 195 countries to strive to keep global temperatures from rising beyond 1.5 C, leaving it in the company of only Yemen, Iran and Libya.

His administration is carrying out an "energy dominance" agenda that focuses on producing and exporting oil, gas and coal, as well as nuclear, while sidelining renewable energy, which has become cost-competitive.

"We have the most oil of any nation anywhere, oil and gas in the world, and if you add coal, we have the most of any nation in the world," he said.

His remarks come a day before UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hosts a climate summit at the UN that will focus on countries' new climate action plans.

Guterres has tried to keep the world focused on continuing a global transition away from fossil fuels towards clean energy.

“Just follow the money,” Guterres said in June, adding that $2 trillion flowed into clean energy last year, $800 billion more than fossil fuels and up almost 70% in a decade.

ATTACHMENT SIX – FROM GUARDIAN U.K.

AMID SQUABBLES, BOMBAST AND COMPETING INTERESTS, WHAT CAN COP30 ACHIEVE?

Climate summit in Brazil needs to find way to stop global heating accelerating amid stark divisions

By Fiona Harvey environment editor Sun 9 Nov 2025 01.00 EST

“It broke my heart.” Surangel Whipps, president of the tiny Pacific nation of Palau, was sitting in the front row of the UN’s general assembly in New York when Donald Trump made a long and rambling speech, his first to the UN since his re-election, on 23 September.

Whipps was prepared for fury and bombast from the US president, but what followed was shocking. Trump’s rant on the climate crisis – a “green scam”, “the greatest con job ever perpetrated”, “predictions made by stupid people” – was an unprecedented attack on science and global action from a major world leader.

Palau, threatened by rising sea levels, floods and more intense storms, is home to nearly 20,000 people, all likely to be made refugees if global heating surpasses 1.5C for a prolonged period, a likelihood they are desperate to prevent. They know they are just the beginning, the frontline. Globally, hundreds of millions of people’s homes and livelihoods will be destroyed by climate breakdown within decades.

“Our children need hope, they need to be inspired,” says Whipps. “They need to see us coming together to solve problems.”

What they got instead was a tirade, disbelief and discouragement.

THE POPULIST TIDE

Whipps’s dismay is felt by vulnerable countries around the world. After years in which it appeared the world was beginning to act on the climate crisis, a populist tide has swept in, turning back or threatening progress in many democracies.

Trump’s words were just the most extreme expression of a global rightwing trend. In the EU, hard-right political groupings delayed key decisions on emissions targets, and are seeking further abandonment of climate action. The UK’s poll-topping Reform party openly embraces denial. In Argentina, Trump ally Javier Milei has taken his chainsaw to climate policy as well as the economy.

Yet polls find an overwhelming majority of people – 89% globally – are concerned about the climate crisis and want action. And there have been unexpected victories for pro-climate politicians: Mark Carney in Canada, Anthony Albanese in Australia, and Claudia Sheinbaum – a climate scientist – in Mexico.

This week, those powerful geopolitical forces will clash in the small Amazonian city of Belém. The UN climate summit, Cop30, begins on Monday, with a packed schedule for the Brazilian hosts – 145 agenda items to be decided over two weeks, ranging from questions of cutting greenhouse gases, financial help for poor countries, the rights of Indigenous peoples, boosting clean energy and preserving the world’s forests.

Squabbles among nations, bombast and competing national interests are only part of the story. Nature is giving its own account. Outside the air-conditioned conference halls, temperatures are rising fast, and for two years have breached the relatively safe limit of 1.5C above preindustrial levels that nations had vowed to keep. The evidence of climate breakdown is gathering fast: the record-breaking Hurricane Melissa that devastated Jamaica last month, temperatures climbing above 50C in the Middle East, and ocean temperatures soaring. Scientists have warned that the first of a series of “tipping points” – the bleaching of ocean corals – already appears to have been reached.

At the heart of Cop30 will be two key questions: what can the world do to stop global heating accelerating further and faster? And can it be done in time to prevent unstoppable catastrophe?

‘Belém is the test’

Brazil’s presidency of Cop30, the 30th “conference of the parties” under the UN framework convention on climate change since it was signed at the Earth summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, is focused on the developing world, and the host’s top priority is to try to preserve unity amid stark global divisions.

This is being called by some the most consequential Cop since the Paris agreement was signed 10 years ago. At Paris, countries set out national targets on curbing or cutting greenhouse gas emissions, but they were insufficient to hold to the 1.5C limit that the treaty stipulated. Six years later, at Cop26 in Glasgow a fresh round of pledges cut projected temperature rises further but only to about 2.7C. At this Cop nations will need to revise their targets again – but with temperatures climbing faster than expected, those revisions have to be urgent and deep.

“The Paris agreement is our mandate; Belém is the test,” says Ban Ki-moon, who was UN secretary general at the time of the Paris summit. “In a fractured world, the Paris agreement remains the one pact that shows humanity can act as one – but it needs resuscitation through action, not rhetoric. Do this, and the Paris agreement becomes a living plan that protects people and strengthens economies. If we fall short, we risk placing both its promise – and the people it was written to protect – in jeopardy.”

To ease the negotiations, world leaders were invited to Belém this week, meeting on Thursday and Friday to galvanise their ministers and officials before the official start. Trump, of course, was not among them. Nor was Vladimir Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine poured hundreds of billions in windfall profits into the coffers of the fossil fuel industry, which invested it in more fossil fuels.

Xi Jinping of China also did not go but took part virtually in lead-up meetings, at which he promised further action to shift China to a green economy. India, too, has made encouraging signals: although the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, skipped the summit, he visited Brasília in July, and the harsh end to last year’s Cop – when India’s negotiators refused to accept what they regarded as an inadequate pledge of $300bn (£230bn) in climate finance from the rich world – may be avoided this time.

Saudi Arabia, Russia and a few allies have a history of obstructing Cops, and Argentina may join them. There will be fights, and possible wrecking tactics.

A yawning ‘emissions gap’

The best way for pro-climate countries to stave off this threat would be to come up with strong national plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But, except in a few cases, this has not happened.

Nationally determined contributions (NDCs) are the bedrock of the Paris agreement. They set out how far, how fast, and by what means, countries will curb or cut carbon, in line with the goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C above preindustrial levels.

At the time of writing, about 100 countries had submitted their NDCs, though the official deadline passed in February. China and the EU only submitted their NDCs a few days before the start of the conference.

Taken together, the NDCs received so far would achieve only a sixth of the emissions cuts needed to hold to the 1.5C goal, according to UN estimates.

Brazil has been reluctant to address the inadequacy of the NDCs. The presidency team has insisted they are not a formal part of the Cop30 mandate, as they are up to individual nations to draw up. It was only after protests that space was created within the agenda even to discuss NDCs, and it is still unclear whether there will be an outcome that mandates clear steps to fill the yawning “emissions gap” between what has been pledged and what is needed.

Brazil says it wants to focus on “implementation”, rather than words in windowless negotiating rooms. And in some respects, climate action is – in some regions and some sectors – flourishing in ways that were scarcely imagined possible even a decade ago. Renewables, led by solar and wind, accounted for more than 90% of new power capacity added worldwide last year, with solar now the cheapest electricity in history. Global clean-energy investment is expected to reach $2.2tn this year, which would be about twice fossil-fuel spending. Last year, one in five of new cars sold around the world was electric, and there are now more jobs in clean energy than in fossil fuels.

That sort of real-world action is what makes a difference to people – it gets climate action out from the negotiating rooms, and the corporate boardrooms, and into living rooms, in the words of the UN climate chief, Simon Stiell.

DEMANDS OF THE GLOBAL SOUTH

Brazil is also acutely conscious that developing countries will judge this Cop on how far it helps them attain their key goals: financial assistance to help them adapt to the impacts of climate breakdown, and investment in their economies to shift to clean energy. “We need a fair deal,” says Mohamed Adow, director of the Power Shift Africa thinktank. “These are not acts of charity – they are investments in a stable, livable planet. We need to see the sharing of clean energy technology by the global north with the global south.”

Finance was the key issue at last year’s Cop, but the deal reached there left a bitter taste with many poor countries. Cop29 agreed a goal of ensuring that $1.3tn a year should flow to the developing world by 2035, but rich countries agreed to provide only $300bn of that, leaving the rest to come from the private sector and revenue-raising mechanisms such as the levy on shipping (now postponed) and a charge on frequent flyers, as well as the carbon markets and philanthropy.

But without the US, even the paltry $300bn pledge of the developed world last year looks harder to achieve.

Cooperation among countries in the global south – which could include China, and some of the middle-income countries that have already started on a greener path – will also be key.

Arunabha Ghosh, chief executive of an Indian thinktank, the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, and a special envoy to the Cop30 presidency, said: “We are all under collective siege and when you’re under siege, the more you hunker down together, the better chances you have to survive the real and metaphorical hurricanes coming at us.”

World leaders who jetted in over the Amazon rainforest, its green vastness scarred and pockmarked by widespread logging, ranches and small individual farm clearings, are in no doubt as to Brazil’s key demand from them: to sign up to the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF). For the presidency, this will be the single most important achievement of Cop30: a fund that will be used to keep existing forests standing.

Brazil wants to gather pledges of $25bn for the TFFF initially, using this to attract a further $100bn from the global financial markets. The money would be dispensed to forested regions, rewarding them for reducing deforestation and providing finance for biodiversity conservation work.

But the subject the hosts seem much less comfortable with is the root cause of the climate crisis: fossil fuels. At Cop28 in Dubai in 2023, a historic resolution was made – that the world must “transition away from fossil fuels”. It may seem astonishing that this was the first time in 30 years of talks the subject had been addressed directly – the intransigence of petrostates and the need for consensus within the UN process had prevented such a move before.

As soon as it was over, fellow petrostates – chiefly Saudi Arabia – began to try to unpick the agreement. At Cop29 in Azerbaijan – another economy heavily dependent on exporting oil and gas – attempts to reaffirm the resolution were stymied.

Supporters want to pick up the fight again this year, though about 50 countries are thought to want to prevent it being discussed.

Brazil ranks in the top 10 global oil and gas exporters, and is prospecting for new fields, some of them offshore from the Amazon. The country’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has strongly defended the rights of poor countries to carry on exploiting their resources, arguing it is the rich countries that have benefited from them for two centuries, and caused the climate crisis, who must stop.

For the next fortnight, Brazil’s role is to facilitate this debate, and the host’s decisions on how to handle the issue will be crucial.

A JUST TRANSITION

“It undermines the credibility of Cop if Cop can’t deal with fossil fuels,” says Leo Roberts at the E3G thinktank.

If there is such a discussion, it can only take place in the context of a global “just transition”, argue civil society groups. That means ensuring that workers, the poor and the vulnerable are not abandoned or exploited in the race to clean energy.

António Guterres, the UN secretary general, acknowledged the problem in July, saying: “The critical minerals that power the clean energy revolution are often found in countries that have long been exploited. And today, we see history repeating. Communities mistreated. Rights trampled. Environments trashed. Nations stuck at the bottom of value chains while others reap rewards. And extractive models digging deeper holes of inequality and harm. This must end.”

China controls the majority of the world’s critical mineral supply chain, but the US is keen to expand its . Neither has historically been keen on UN initiatives that impose fresh rules on their markets, but Lula has long been a strong proponent of workers’ rights.

With fights over the agenda inevitable, coupled with the lack of trust between rich and poor nations, and the potential for threats from the US and its allies, Brazil may count it a victory if the Cop proceeds without major disruption. Democracy in Brazil, as in many countries riven by populist politicians and suffering economic hardship, is in a fragile state – simply holding things together is hard enough.

But the poor and vulnerable around the world need and deserve much more, says Meena Raman, head of programmes at the Third World Network. Future promises of better behaviour will not be sufficient to safeguard them. They need action now, finance now, and a clear plan for sticking as close as possible to 1.5C.

“It is no longer sufficient to merely invoke the need to save multilateralism,” she warns. “We must deliver on saving the planet and protecting the world’s most vulnerable. What is needed now is bold, accountable action that prioritises justice, equity and survival.”

 This article was amended on 9 November 2025. An earlier version said fewer than 100 countries had submitted their NDCs before Cop30; in fact, more than 100 have now submitted them.

ATTACHMENT SEVEN – FROM INSIDE CLIMATE NEWS

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT COP30

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and climate science reporter Bob Berwyn as they explain the key issues setting the agenda at this year’s U.N. climate change conference.

November 16, 2025

COP30 is underway in Belém, Brazil, where nearly 200 countries have gathered for high-stakes global climate negotiations. 

Notably absent is the United States. President Donald Trump, who called climate change the “greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world” in a September address to the U.N. General Assembly, sent no federal delegation.

From his reporting space in Belém, Bob shares an update on the conference so far: America’s absence and China’s influence, what California Gov. Gavin Newsom is doing at COP, and what can come of this year’s discussions, from adaptation indicators to financing and a possible action plan.

ATTACHMENT EIGHT – FROM 1440

COP30 BEGINS

The world’s largest global climate meeting—the 30th Conference of the Parties—begins today in Belem, Brazil. Nearly 200 countries will send representatives; the US will not send an official delegation. 

COP30 comes 10 years after 195 countries adopted the US-led Paris Agreement, in which each committed to taking steps to reduce global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Since then, countries have largely failed to meet commitments, and emissions have continued to rise, albeit less quickly. If warming continues at its current pace, researchers project global temperatures will rise 2.5 to 2.9 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, down from the up to 3.8 degrees Celsius predicted a decade ago. The UN expects global warming to cross the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold by 2035.

President Donald Trump pulled out of the Paris deal in both terms, citing the economic burden, including billions of dollars in donations to developing countries.

PS: See what we've learned about climatology via 1440 Topics here.

ATTACHMENT NINE – FROM REUTERS

BRAZIL'S COP30 CLIMATE SUMMIT OPENS WITH A PLEA FOR COUNTRIES TO GET ALONG

By Valerie Volcovici, Katy Daigle and William James

November 10, 2025 3:26 PM EST

· Summary

· COP30 opens with UN climate chief urging cooperation

· Indigenous leaders demand more say in territory management

· US absence criticized by California Governor Newsom

· Germany says Europe open to discussing fossil fuel reduction plans

BELEM, Brazil, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The COP30 climate summit opened on Monday with the U.N. climate chief urging countries to cooperate rather than battle over priorities, as efforts to limit global warming are threatened by a fracturing international consensus.

Host country Brazil brokered a deal on the agenda for the two-week summit in the Amazon city of Belem, deflecting attempts by developing-country negotiating blocs to shoehorn contentious issues like climate finance and carbon taxes into the talks.

It was unclear whether countries would aim to negotiate a final agreement for the end of the event – a hard sell in a year of fractious global politics and U.S. efforts to obstruct a transition away from fossil fuels.

Some including Brazil have suggested that countries focus on smaller efforts that do not need consensus, such as deforestation, after years of COP summits making lofty promises only to leave many unfulfilled.

"In this arena of COP30, your job here is not to fight one another – your job here is to fight this climate crisis, together,” U.N. Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell told delegates from more than 190 countries attending.

He said three decades of U.N. climate talks had helped to bend the curve in projected warming downward, “because of what was agreed in halls like this, with governments legislating, and markets responding. But I am not sugar-coating it. We have so much more work to do."

A new U.N. analysis of countries' emissions-cutting plans estimated that global greenhouse gases would decrease 12% by 2035 from 2019 levels, improving on an earlier estimate of 10% published last month.

The new figure takes into account the most recent pledges, including from China and the EU, but was still short of the 60% emissions drop needed by 2035 to limit global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures - the threshold beyond which scientists say climate change would unleash far more severe impacts.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva warned against interests trying to obscure the dangers of climate change.

"They attack the institutions, the science, the universities," he said. "It’s time to impose another defeat to denialists.”

The world’s biggest historical emitter of greenhouse gases – the United States – opted to skip the summit; U.S. President Donald Trump falsely asserts that climate change is a hoax.

ATTACHMENT TEN – FROM GUK

RICH COUNTRIES HAVE LOST ENTHUSIASM FOR TACKLING CLIMATE CRISIS, SAYS COP30 CHIEF

Brazil’s André Corrêa do Lago says countries should follow China’s lead on clean energy as conference begins

By Fiona Harvey in Belém Mon 10 Nov 2025 00.00 EST

Cop30: what are the main issues?

Net zero to NDCs: your Cop30 jargon buster

Rich countries have lost enthusiasm for combating the climate crisis while China is surging ahead in producing and using clean energy equipment, the president of the UN climate talks has said.

More countries should follow China’s lead instead of complaining about being outcompeted, said André Corrêa do Lago, the Brazilian diplomat in charge of the Cop30 conference, which begins on Monday.

“Somehow the reduction in enthusiasm of the global north is showing that the global south is moving,” Corrêa do Lago told reporters in Belém, the city in the Amazonian rainforest where the fortnight-long Cop30 conference is taking place. “It is not just this year, it has been moving for years, but it did not have the exposure that it has now.”

He pointed to the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, China, which is also the biggest producer and consumer of low-carbon energy. “China is coming up with solutions that are for everyone, not just China,” he said. “Solar panels are cheaper, they’re so competitive [compared with fossil fuel energy] that they are everywhere now. If you’re thinking of climate change, this is good.”

Ministers and high-ranking officials from 194 countries will seek to forge plans at Cop30 to stay within, or as close as possible to, the limit of 1.5C of heating set out in the Paris agreement, to set a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels, and to ensure that poor countries receive the help they need.

Top of the agenda will be national plans on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, which currently would lead to a devastating 2.5C of heating. Vulnerable countries want to draw up a plan that will show how countries can outdo their current inadequate efforts and meet the Paris agreement targets.

Ilana Seid, Palau’s ambassador to the UN and a spokesperson for the Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis), said setting out a global pathway to deeper emissions cuts would be key. “Progress so far has been insufficient and we have to have a response,” she told the Guardian. “Otherwise, we don’t know where we are going.”

The Brazilian hosts are focused on “implementation” – that is, putting into practice commitments that have already been made, such as cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, a tripling of renewable energy by 2030 and a doubling of energy efficiency. But Aosis wants more than this, arguing that without policies to cut emissions faster, the target of limiting heating to 1.5C will be lost.

“The 1.5C target must be our north star,” Seid said. “We need to say that collectively we are falling short on that, and we need to have a response.”

Poor countries also want assurances that they will receive promised funds to protect them against the impacts of climate breakdown. A roadmap to move the world off fossil fuels will also be under discussion.

But, despite efforts by Brazil over more than six months to avoid a fight at the conference opening over what should be on the agenda, bitter disagreements over what the conference should focus on and what should be off the table are still likely on Monday.

As the conference begins, the Guardian can reveal that one key climate pledge is already being undermined. At Cop26 in Glasgow in 2021, the UK, the US, the EU and other countries forged the global methane pledge, requiring a cut in methane of 30% by 2030. About 159 countries subsequently signed up.

Yet emissions from some of the main signatories have increased, data from the satellite analysis company Kayrros shows, which is likely to further raise global temperatures. Collectively, emissions from six of the biggest signatories – the US, Australia, Kuwait, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Iraq – are now 8.5% above the 2020 level.

Kuwait and Australia have made progress on cutting their emissions but emissions from US oil and gas operations have increased by 18%.

Antoine Rostand, the president of Kayrros, said: “Despite the promises made year after year, despite the worsening state of the climate, methane emissions are rising. Our analysis makes that painfully clear. Can we expect things to change? We must at least hope they do. The clock is ticking.”

Methane is a greenhouse gas 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, and is responsible for about a third of the warming recently recorded.

ATTACHMENT ELEVEN – FROM FINANCIAL TIMES

BY MICHAEL POOLER AND BEATRIZ LANGELLA IN SÃO PAULO AND ATTRACTA MOONEY IN BELÉM

Published NOV 10 2025

Business attendance at the UN COP30 climate summit in Brazil is expected to be far narrower than in past years and dominated by big Brazilian groups and multinational companies with Latin American operations.

The numbers of top overseas executives is hobbled both by the logistical constraints of the Belém location, at the gateway to the Amazon, as well as political pressure on climate action since the election of US President Donald Trump.

A handful of chief executives of major corporations were at pre-COP events in Brazil’s financial capital São Paulo last week, with many international groups sending chief sustainability officers or regional heads to a series of sustainable investment conferences.

They included ExxonMobil chief executive Darren Woods and Spanish infrastructure group Accionas executive chair José Manuel Entrecanales, as well as the chief executives of São Paulo-based meatpacking giant JBS, Gilberto Tomazoni, and the state-controlled Banco do Brasil’s CEO Tarciana Medeiros.

Among the most senior global finance executives was Zurich Insurance chair Michel Liès and Natalie Adomait, the chief operating officer of Brookfield Asset Management’s renewable energy arm. while BlackRock, JPMorgan, Bank of America and HSBC sent either regional heads or sustainability executives. Tech sector speakers included public policy and LatAm heads for Amazon and Meta, as well as the Google chief sustainability officer Kate Brandt.

Alicia Argüello, global head of sustainability at Hitachi Energy, which is building a $200mn transformer factory in Brazil, said the relatively low turnout of chief executives may have reflected that corporate climate goals had already been largely set and businesses were getting on with those plans.

“It’s the time for implementation and the mandates are there, the commitments are there, now they need to happen,” she added. 

In business there was now greater discussion of energy security and affordability, not sustainability alone, said Argüello. “Energy security is becoming top of the list. But the climate emergency is not going away.”

Despite the fracturing of global climate action consensus since the Trump election, many of the delegates reported a positive atmosphere at the business conferences.

Dana Barsky, global head of sustainability strategy and net zero at Standard Chartered, said engagement between public and private sectors had improved significantly in the past five years at COPs

“It means we have a level of trust and working relationships so we can get more done through public-private partnerships,” she added. “[It] is really key to unlock capital mobilisation.”

A senior executive from another global bank said he was in São Paulo to see clients. Many companies were still pushing ahead with climate-related plans, he added, even if with less fanfare than before.

“I’m here because I want to do business,” he said. “I don’t see many examples of organisations saying ‘we were going to do this, and now we’re not’ . . . It’s just about getting on with it.”

One Japanese executive said he was pessimistic before travelling to Brazil, but had become more optimistic after seeing the Brazilian government’s efforts: “After coming here, the narrative is very different.”

There were also a handful of Brazilian nature-related start-up companies hopeful of developing carbon credits, which the government was aiming to boost.

One Europe-based investor, who was a veteran of about a dozen COPs, said he skipped the event this year, blaming confusion about where the business community would meet and the high cost of accommodation. 

He added there were “mixed messages” about whether the business community should go to Belém at all. “All the finance guys are in São Paulo,” he added. Another senior UK-based investor said he had planned to go to São Paulo, but instead sent a more junior colleague.

In a letter to heads of state ahead of COP30, 35 business organisations representing more than 100,000 companies called on governments to urgently realign public finance and policy incentives with the clean energy transition.

María Mendiluce, the head of the We Mean Business Coalition, said there was evidence the real economy was accelerating towards clean energy. “The data shows business and markets are moving ahead of politics, and now governments need to step up.”

ATTACHMENT TWELVE – FROM WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM

WHY STANDARDS ARE THE QUIET HERO OF IMPLEMENTATION AT COP30

Nov 19, 2025

COP30 in Belém, Brazil, is seeking to be the 'implementation COP' that accelerates action on climate change.

Alongside political will and policy, universal standards on carbon emissions will be essential to meet this goal.

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol provides a unifying, credible foundation that enables real, scalable climate action.

Will COP30 in Belém end up being the "implementation COP" that Brazil so ardently seeks? Certainly, many points have previously been negotiated, and in theory at least, should be on the cusp of implementation.

But what is it that really pushes things from the page to the tangible actions? Political will and policy are strong factors, as are clear economic incentives. But other key ingredients I’d suggest are crucial are the relevant tools and frameworks that make implementation more straightforward and action likely to happen.

Internationally- or regionally-agreed standards are a good example of these types of tools. They touch every aspect of modern life – from ensuring everything from the quality of your phone to your child’s car seat and the structural integrity of the building you are reading this in, through to the environmental management systems that govern major companies and sectors.

This year, we’ve taken our work at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to a new level. Our organization has partnered with Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP), a joint initiative from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and World Resources Institute (WRI), to create a new set of tools for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting and reporting.

The move signals the advent of a unified, globally recognized and universally trusted tool for measuring and reporting carbon emissions. Essentially, it provides the framework to support implementation in this vital area.

Measurement key to benchmarking progress on GHG emissions

Measurement is the foundation of benchmarking progress and crunching the numbers on carbon emissions is one of the few solid processes available to help quantify, monitor and consequently address the emissions that are fuelling climate change.

The new set of tools, from which a product-level GHG accounting standard will emerge, will boost the ability of governments and companies worldwide to accurately measure and report their GHG emissions.

Although the climate has become something of a political punching bag, the reality is that companies are facing growing reporting requirements – including the notoriously difficult to assess Scope 3 emissions – as a result of burgeoning regulation and investor pressure.

What is also striking about this partnership is that it is a frontrunner in a wider process of consolidation that is emerging. As our collective understanding of climate change has developed, well-meaning but often-competing sets of tools, systems and guidelines have been created.

What we’re seeing now is the natural emergence of the strongest of these, as stakeholders call for greater harmonization and universality. It stands to reason that if we’re all trying to benchmark progress towards net zero, we all need the same measurement tool, not regional and sectoral variants.

This partnership heralds this by bringing together the ISO’s popular 1406X series, which governments and organizations use for carbon accounting and reporting, and the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, which underpins much of the world’s GHG accounting and regulation, to produce a single set of credible greenhouse gas accounting standards.

In doing so, it’s creating a much-needed common and universal language, thereby improving reporting, supporting strategic decision making, boosting efficiencies and saving costs.

Emissions standards key to unlocking climate finance

The partnership comes at a time when hopes are pinned on COP30 for an acceleration in climate progress, specifically in the areas of financing and accountability. The partnership is ideally placed to support this. A strong, verifiable and fully accountable system for accurately measuring GHG emissions is vital to unlocking greater amounts of climate finance.

The need for complementarity and alignment across the climate landscape has never been clearer. As the call from the COP30 Presidency Brazil underscores, fragmentation risks slowing progress at a time when acceleration is essential.

At ISO, we see this echoed by our members and partners around the world – from governments to businesses and standards users – who are seeking coherence, clarity, and interoperability, not duplication or competition.

That’s why our strategic partnership with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol represents more than just technical collaboration. It reflects a commitment to break down silos and bring together the strongest existing frameworks to serve a global public good.

These efforts are grounded in ISO’s globally recognized consensus-based process: a process designed to deliver effective, accountable and trusted tools that respond to the needs of users and regulators alike.

Standards key to accelerating implemention at COP30

What ISO and its partners are doing may not set pulses racing, but it will produce tangible, positive change. Our first working group under the partnership is already under way, and we stressed the importance of building trust into carbon accounting forward at a session during the system transformation thematic day of COP30.

It is only by accelerating climate action that we can better support the citizens, economies, governments and businesses of tomorrow. Transition is happening; it’s more a question of speed than direction. This underscores the importance of implementation, which is why we need the tools and frameworks that will facilitate action.

We remain committed to working openly with all actors who share this vision, ensuring that the global architecture for GHG accounting is both coherent and robust. In a crowded and evolving space, our goal is not to create another competing system, it is to offer a unifying, credible foundation that enables real, scalable climate action.

ATTACHMENT THIRTEEN – FROM THE A.P.

By  Seth Borenstein, Anton L. Delgado and Melina Walling

Updated 2:45 PM EST, November 17, 2025

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — Battered by last month’s ferocious climate-fueled hurricane, Jamaica joined other small island nations and impoverished countries at Monday’s United Nations climate talks to implore the rest of the world to stop talking and start acting. Their message: Our lives are on the line.

As high-level ministers from governments around the world took over negotiations at the conference called COP30, vulnerable nations lined up to say how important it is for countries to cut emissions. They said the world’s current climate plans aren’t strong enough to keep warming below the 1.5 degree Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) set by the 2015 Paris Agreement.

In addition, they renewed a longstanding call for rich nations to do more financially to help poor countries deal with warming.

“Hurricane Melissa changed the life of every Jamaican in less than 24 hours,” said Matthew Samuda, the country’s economic growth minister. The Category 5 hurricane that hit three weeks ago caused almost $10 billion in damage and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. He called it evidence of “the new phase of climate change.”

“We did not create this crisis, but we refuse to stand as victims,” Samuda said. “We call on the global community, especially major emitters, to honor their commitments and safeguard the 1.5 degree threshold for Jamaica. This is survival. It’s about our people and their right to a safe and prosperous future.”

Related Stories

At UN climate talks in Brazil, the only sign of the United States is an empty chair

As nations push for more ambition at climate talks, chairman says they may get it

Climate summit hears from countries suffering from harms, destruction linked to global warming

Armando Rodriguez Batista, Cuba’s environment and science minister, noted his country was flooded by Melissa.

“Tomorrow it will be too late to do what we had to do a long time ago,” he said.

Speakers lament slow progress

Other nations reiterated the life-or-death nature of stepping up the fight to cut emissions, calling it “a moral duty” and saying climate damage is their day-to-day reality.

“I sit on the roof of the house all night, looking at the neighbors, thinking whether or not the water will swallow us all,” Romanian Environment Minister Diana-Anda Buzoianu said, reading the words of a victim of this year’s floods in her country.

“Promises alone will not hold back the rising seas,” Seychelles Environment and Climate Minister Flavien Philomel Joubert said.

A ruling earlier this year by the International Court of Justice that climate change is a planetary existential problem that must be fixed is “leverage” that small island countries will use to speed up climate-fighting efforts at COP30, said Tuvalu Attorney-General Laingane Italeli Talia.

That ruling shows that “the 1.5 target is not just a political aspiration, but a legal obligation informed by the best available science,” Tuvalu Environment and Climate Minister Maina Vakafua Talia said as thunder from a passing storm reverberated through the hall.

“We are seeing the 1.5 target disappear before our eyes,” Talia said, adding that for small islands “it is the line between our survival and loss.”

But stronger climate plans and saving 1.5 is important for the whole world, not just small islands, he added.

COP30, more heavily fortified after a pair of demonstrations disrupted the main venue in the first week, kicked off its second week with foreign and other ministers stepping in for the lower-level negotiators who handled it earlier. They have far more power and leeway to make tough political decisions, and U.N. Climate Executive Secretary Simon Stiell told them to use it.

“The spirit is there, but the speed is not,” Stiell said. “The pace of change in the real economy has not been matched by the pace of progress in these negotiating rooms. As climate disasters wrecked millions of lives and hammer every economy, pushing up prices for food and other basic needs, we all know what’s at stake.”

Other speakers also urged quicker action.

“The time for promises is over,” Brazil Vice President Geraldo Alckmin said. “Each additional fraction of a degree of global warming represents lives at risk, greater inequality and greater losses for those who contributed least to the problem.”

U.N. General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock said recent disasters show how much needs to be done.

“The climate crisis is unrelenting,” she said. “We saw this when Hurricane Melissa barreled into the Caribbean two weeks ago. We saw it again last week at the Philippines ... near back-to-back typhoons.”

‘Our existence is at stake’

Adding to the pressure, late Sunday the Brazilian presidency of the talks issued a five-page summary on how to proceed on several sticky issues. Those include pressing nations to do more in their new emissions-cutting plans, handling of trade disputes and barriers involving climate and the need to deliver on last year’s $300 billion annual pledge for climate financial aid to poor nations.

Those difficult issues weren’t part of the original agenda nor the COP30 presidency’s plans, but several countries pushed for them.

Attendees sit under a globe in a lobby at the side events pavilions at the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, in Belem, Brazil. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Several countries — especially small island nations — have asked that the talks address the inadequacy of the emissions-cutting plans submitted by 116 nations so far this year. Collectively, the plans come nowhere close to cutting heat-trapping gases enough to prevent breeching the 1.5-degrees Celsius warming limit since the 1800s.

That issue may get combined with a call for a plan for phasing out fossil fuels — coal, oil and natural gas, the chief cause of climate change. That phaseout was agreed to after much debate at U.N. climate talks two years ago, but last year, little happened on the issue. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva earlier this month raised the issue anew.

“Our very existence is at stake,” Mauritius Foreign Affairs Minister Dhananjay Ramful said. “A decade after the promises of the Paris Agreement, despite our good intentions, we realized that we have not done enough. ... Our planet demands action now.”

ATTACHMENT FOURTEEN – FROM DEMOCRACY NOW

JAMAICA LEADS CALL OF ISLAND NATIONS FOR URGENT ACTION AT COP30 CLIMATE SUMMIT

Nov 18, 2025

Here in Brazil at the COP30 climate summit, Jamaica is leading calls from vulnerable nations, like Mauritius and Cuba, to urge wealthier countries to cut emissions to help limit the effects of global warming. On Monday, Matthew Samuda, Jamaica’s economic minister, cited the devastating financial impact of Hurricane Melissa.

Matthew Samuda: “Preliminary estimates place damages around $10 billion U.S., or approximately a third, or just under a third, of our GDP. No small island state can absorb losses of this magnitude. Excellencies, Jamaicans are resilient, but resilience must not be defined as surviving the unbearable. We did not create this crisis, but we refuse to stand as victims. We choose action.”

Meanwhile, the Center for International Environmental Law identified over 500 carbon capture and storage lobbyists attending COP30. The center said in a statement,”The fossil fuel industry has found in AI’s energy demand a new narrative to justify its survival — and in carbon capture, the perfect illusion. Carbon capture and storage cannot make fossil fuels 'clean'; it just keeps them burning. It doesn’t curb emissions; it locks them in.” We’ll have more from the COP30 climate summit here in Belém, Brazil, after headlines.

ATTACHMENT FIFTEEN – FROM ANGELUS

‘CREATION IS CRYING OUT’: POPE LEO URGES GLOBAL UNITY, ACTION IN COP30 MESSAGE

Cindy Wooden | Catholic News Service Nov 18, 2025 • 

While "creation is crying out" and millions of people suffer the effects of climate change and pollution, politicians are failing to act, Pope Leo XIV said.

As the U.N. Climate Conference, COP30, began its final week of meetings Nov. 17, the pope sent a video message to Christian representatives and activists from the global south who were holding a side event to the conference in Belem, Brazil.

The Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 at COP21 "has driven real progress and remains our strongest tool for protecting people and the planet," Pope Leo said in the video.

"But we must be honest: it is not the agreement that is failing, we are failing in our response," he said. "What is failing is the political will of some."

While Pope Leo did not specify which nations were at fault, the U.S. government was not represented at COP30 because U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the country from the Paris Agreement.

"True leadership means service, and support at a scale that will truly make a difference," the pope said. "Stronger climate actions will create stronger and fairer economic systems. Strong climate actions and policies -- both are an investment in a more just and stable world."

"Creation is crying out in floods, droughts, storms and relentless heat," Pope Leo said.

"One in three people live in great vulnerability because of these climate changes," he added. "To them, climate change is not a distant threat, and to ignore these people is to deny our shared humanity."

As government representatives from most of the world's countries -- more than 190 nations registered delegations -- struggled to finalize agreements on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing reliance on fossil fuels, Pope Leo told the Christian activists he believed "there is still time to keep the rise in global temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius, but the window is closing."

"As stewards of God's creation, we are called to act swiftly, with faith and prophecy, to protect the gift he entrusted to us," the pope said.

In safeguarding creation as a gift of God, he said, "we walk alongside scientists, leaders and pastors of every nation and creed."

"We are guardians of creation, not rivals for its spoils," the pope said. "Let us send a clear global signal together: nations standing in unwavering solidarity behind the Paris Agreement and behind climate cooperation."

Despite the challenges, Pope Leo told the activists, "you chose hope and action over despair, building a global community that works together."

The efforts have made a difference, he said, "but not enough. Hope and determination must be renewed, not only in words and aspirations, but also in concrete actions."

ATTACHMENT SIXTEEN – FROM REUTERS

POPE LEO URGES STRONGER ACTION AS UN CLIMATE SUMMIT ENTERS FINAL WEEK

By Lisandra Paraguassu, Kate Abnett and Sudarshan Varadhan

November 18, 202512:35 AM EST

Pope says world failing to do enough to fight climate change

· Competing priorities make final COP30 summit week tough

· Brazil's President Lula will aim to help bridge gaps

· Summit scheduled to end Friday

BELEM, Brazil, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Pope Leo criticized world governments on Monday for failing so far to slow global warming and called for a stronger response to the threat, as countries at the U.N. climate summit in Brazil's Amazon city of Belem entered the second week of negotiations with a goal to resolve their thorniest issues ahead of schedule.

The Pope's message reflected mounting concern about flagging international ambition and rising greenhouse gas emissions a full decade after the 2015 Paris Agreement, a landmark deal at which countries for the first time agreed to limit global warming to well within 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Scientists say the Earth is destined now to overshoot that threshold, opening the door to devastating impacts.

"The creation is crying out in floods, droughts, storms and relentless heat," Pope Leo said in a video message played at an event on the sidelines of the summit.

"The Paris Agreement has driven real progress and remains our strongest tool for protecting people and the planet. But we must be honest: it is not the Agreement that is failing, we are failing in our response. What is failing is the political will of some."

Delegates in the steamy riverside city are seeking to reach agreement by Wednesday on a number of difficult topics, including climate finance and goals to reduce emissions, with the rest of the agenda to be resolved by the last scheduled day on Friday, COP30 President Andre Correa do Lago said on Monday.

"It's super difficult, as you all know, because it's lots of documents, and there are still many texts that are open... but all involved thought that it's worth the try," he said.

Most climate summits spill into overtime.

DEVELOPING NATIONS FLEX MORE MUSCLE

Governments representing nearly 200 countries gathered in Belem for the annual conference to hash out a deal they hope can demonstrate global resolve to follow through on the goals of the Paris Agreement, while acknowledging its shortcomings by laying out clear plans for future climate action.

The job will not be easy. Countries are now digging into some of the toughest issues - from fossil fuel use to climate finance - many of which have been left off the formal agenda to ensure the talks keep moving even if one issue gets hung up.

"The time for performative diplomacy has now passed. Now is the time to roll up our sleeves, come together and get the job done," U.N. climate chief Simon Stiell told delegations in a speech opening the second week of the conference.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is expected to arrive on Wednesday to help rally consensus among parties at the summit ahead of Friday's final scheduled session.

New dynamics in climate diplomacy have seen China, India and other developing nations flex more muscle this year, while the European Union is hobbled by weakening support back home and the once-dominant United States has skipped out altogether.

Danish climate minister Lars Aagaard said the European Union was showing leadership but that it was still early in the negotiations.

MIND THE GAPS

Over the last week negotiators had a chance to air their differences on three key issues: climate finance, unilateral trade measures, and planned emissions cuts that do not go nearly far enough.

"It is a must-have to be able to talk about how we close the gap going forward," Norway's climate minister, Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, told Reuters.

A bloc of developing countries is also seeking a payment schedule to ensure wealthy countries follow through on promises made at last year's COP29 to annually deliver $300 billion in climate finance by 2035. The United States - absent from COP30 - has reneged on past commitments.

PROGRESS IN SOME, BUT NOT ALL, AREAS

Denmark, which produces the majority of its electricity from wind, announced a new binding target to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 82% by 2035, compared with 1990 levels.

"We think this is the highest, most ambitious number of any country in the developed world," Aagaard said.

Denmark's target is substantially more ambitious than the EU's overall commitment to a 66.25%-72.5% emissions cut by 2035.

South Korea, which operates the world's seventh-largest fleet of coal-fired power stations, announced it would stop building new coal plants and phase out nearly two-thirds of existing ones by 2040. The rest would also be phased out, though the timeline was not specified.

However, the transition away from fossil fuels in developing countries remains a vexed issue.

Indonesia's plan to retire 6.7 gigawatts of coal-fired power plant capacity by 2030 is at risk of failure due to stalled disbursal of funding from rich countries.

"If there is no one really willing to jump in to finance the coal phase-out, then we will have to think about whether phase-out is actually the best option," Paul Butarbutar, head of the Indonesia Secretariat of the Just Energy Transition Partnership program, told Reuters.

ATTACHMENT SEVENTEEN – FROM GUK
FOSSIL FUEL PROJECTS AROUND THE WORLD THREATEN THE HEALTH OF 2BN PEOPLE

Exclusive: ‘Deep-rooted injustices’ affect billions of people due to location of wells, pipelines and other infrastructure

By Nina Lakhani Climate justice reporter Wed 12 Nov 2025 02.00 EST

A quarter of the world’s population lives within three miles (5km) of operational fossil fuel projects, potentially threatening the health of more than 2 billion people as well as critical ecosystems, according to first-of-its-kind research.

A damning new report by Amnesty International, shared exclusively with the Guardian, found that more than 18,300 oil, gas and coal sites are currently distributed across 170 countries worldwide, occupying a vast area of the Earth’s surface.

Proximity to drilling wells, processing plants, pipelines and other fossil fuel facilities elevates the risk of cancer, respiratory conditions, heart disease, premature birth and death, as well as posing grave threats to water supplies and air quality, and degrades land.

Almost half a billion (463 million) people, including 124 million children, now live within 0.6 miles (1km) of fossil fuels sites, while another 3,500 or so new sites are currently proposed or under development that could force 135 million more people to endure fumes, flares and spills, according to Extraction Extinction: Why the Lifecycle of Fossil Fuels Threatens Life, Nature, and Human Rights.

Most active projects have created pollution hotspots, turning nearby communities and critical ecosystems into so-called sacrifice zones – heavily contaminated areas where low-income and marginalized groups bear the disproportionate burden of exposure to pollution and toxins.

The report details the devastating health toll from extraction, processing and transportation, as well as demonstrating how leaks, flares and construction destroy irreplaceable natural ecosystems and undermine human rights – particularly of those living near oil, gas and coal infrastructure.

It comes as world leaders, excluding the US – the largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases – gather in Belém, Brazil, for the 30th annual climate negotiations amid growing frustration at the lack of progress in phasing out fossil fuels, which are driving planetary collapse and human rights violations.

“The fossil fuel industry and its state sponsors have argued for decades that human development requires fossil fuels. But we know that under the guise of economic growth, they have instead served greed and profits without red lines, violated rights with near-complete impunity, and destroyed the atmosphere, biosphere and oceans,” said Agnès Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International.

“Cop30 leaders must keep people, and not profits and power, at the heart of negotiations by committing to a full, fast, fair and funded fossil-fuel phase-out and just transition to sustainable energy for all.”

Cop30 takes place as the Philippines, Mexico and Jamaica are reeling from superstorms that were intensified by warmer atmospheric and ocean temperatures, with states under growing pressure to take decisive action to regulate fossil fuel companies and end extraction, subsidies, licenses and consumption in order to comply with the landmark ruling by the international court of justice.

Last week, the Guardian revealed how more than 5,350 fossil fuel industry lobbyists have been given access to the UN climate talks in the past four years, blocking climate action while their paymasters drill for record quantities of oil and gas.

The quantitative analysis is based on a first-of-its-kind mapping exercise by researchers at Better Planet Laboratory (BPL) at the University of Colorado Boulder, who compared data on the known locations of fossil fuel infrastructure sites with census data, and datasets on critical ecosystems, greenhouse gas emissions and Indigenous peoples’ land.

A third of all operational oil, coal and gas sites overlap with one or more critical ecosystems such as a wetland, forest or river system that is rich in biodiversity and critical for carbon sequestration or where environmental degradation or disaster could lead to ecosystem collapse, researchers found.

The true global scale is probably higher due to gaps in the documentation of fossil fuel projects and limited census data across countries.

The report also includes testimonies from Indigenous land defenders in Canada and coastal communities in Senegal, as well as fishers in Colombia and Brazil and Amazonian leaders in Ecuador fighting against gas flaring, that were conducted in partnership with Columbia Law School’s Smith Family Human Rights Clinic.

The findings reveal deep-seated environmental injustice and racism in exposure to oil, gas and coal industries.

Indigenous peoples, who account for 5% of the world’s population, are disproportionately exposed to life-shortening fossil fuel infrastructure, with one in six sites located on Indigenous territories.

“We’re experiencing intergenerational battle fatigue … We physically won’t survive [this]. We were never the instigators but we have taken the brunt of all the violence,” said Wet’suwet’en land defender Tsakë ze’ Sleydo’ (Molly Wickham), describing the imminent construction of new compressors for a fossil gas pipeline on Indigenous lands in British Columbia, Canada.

“When we rise up to defend the Yin’tah [Wet’suwet’en territory], we are criminalized.”

The expansion of fossil fuels has also been linked with land grabs, cultural pillage, community division and loss of livelihoods, as well as violence, online threats and lawsuits, both criminal and civil, against community leaders peacefully opposing the construction of pipelines, drilling projects and other infrastructure.

“We are not after money; we only want what is ours. We just want to fish in Guanabara Bay, it’s our right. And they are taking our rights,” said Bruno Alves de Vega, an urban artisanal fisher from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Fossil fuels affect every part of the human body, posing especially severe risks for children, older people and pregnant people that risk harm to the health of future generations, according to the UN special rapporteur on climate change who has called for criminal penalties against those peddling disinformation about the climate crisis and a total ban on fossil fuel industry lobbying and advertising.

“The climate crisis is a manifestation and catalyst of deep-rooted injustices,” added Callamard from Amnesty. “The age of fossil fuels must end now.”

URLS GUK

Rich countries have lost enthusiasm for tackling climate crisis, says Cop30 chief

Amid squabbles, bombast and competing interests, what can Cop30 achieve?

Climate summit in Brazil needs to find way to stop global heating accelerating amid stark divisions

Delegates at the COP30 climate summit have said they fear the Trump administration’s style of “retributive diplomacy”.

ATTACHMENT EIGHTEEN – FROM GUK

WORLD STILL ON TRACK FOR CATASTROPHIC 2.6C TEMPERATURE RISE, REPORT FINDS

Fossil fuel emissions have hit a record high while many nations have done too little to avert deadly global heating

Oliver Milman and Damian Carrington Wed 12 Nov 2025 19.01 EST

The world is still on track for a catastrophic 2.6C increase in temperature as countries have not made sufficiently strong climate pledges, while emissions from fossil fuels have hit a record high, two major reports have found.

Despite their promises, governments’ new emission-cutting plans submitted for the Cop30 climate talks taking place in Brazil have done little to avert dangerous global heating for the fourth consecutive year, according to the Climate Action Tracker update.

The world is now anticipated to heat up by 2.6C above preindustrial times by the end of the century – the same temperature rise forecast last year.

This level of heating easily breaches the thresholds set out in the Paris climate pact, which every country agreed to, and would set the world spiralling into a catastrophic new era of extreme weather and severe hardships.

A separate report found the fossil fuel emissions driving the climate crisis will rise by about 1% this year to hit a record high, but that the rate of rise has more than halved in recent years.

The past decade has seen emissions from coal, oil and gas rise by 0.8% a year compared with 2.0% a year during the decade before. The accelerating rollout of renewable energy is now close to supplying the annual rise in the world’s demand for energy, but has yet to surpass it.

“A world at 2.6C means global disaster,” said Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics. A world this hot would probably trigger major “tipping points” that would cause the collapse of key Atlantic Ocean circulation, the loss of coral reefs, the long-term deterioration of ice sheets and the conversion of the Amazon rainforest to a savannah.

“That all means the end of agriculture in the UK and across Europe, drought and monsoon failure in Asia and Africa, lethal heat and humidity,” said Hare. “This is not a good place to be. You want to stay away from that.”

The world has already heated up by about 1.3C since the Industrial Revolution due to deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels, a situation that has already unleashed fiercer storms, wildfires, droughts and other calamities.

Under the Paris deal, signed in 2016, countries are meant to periodically update their plans to slash emissions, with new submissions of so-called nationally determined contributions (NDCs) expected for this round of UN climate talks currently under way in Belém, Brazil.

But only about 100 countries have done so, with the cuts envisioned very much insufficient to address the climate crisis.

Under a scenario that considers countries’ net zero targets as well as NDCs, the outlook has slightly worsened, with global heating moving from 2.1C to 2.2C by the end of the century, according to the Climate Action Tracker, largely because of the US’s withdrawal from the Paris climate deal.

Donald Trump has called the climate crisis a “hoax”, torn up climate policies at home and agitated for more oil and gas drilling in America and overseas. For the first time, the US has not sent a delegation to a Cop summit, to the relief of some delegates.

While the rate of global heating is still dangerously high, the expected levels have come down since the Paris deal, when about 3.6C of heating by 2100 was expected. This is due to an explosion in the rate of clean energy deployment and a decline in the use of coal, the dirtiest of fossil fuels.

However, an assessment released simultaneously by the Global Carbon Project (GCP) found emissions from fossil fuels are still projected to rise by about 1% in 2025.

The new analyses also show a worrying weakening of the planet’s natural carbon sinks.

The scientists said the combined effects of global heating and the felling of trees have turned tropical forests in southeast Asia and large parts of South America from overall CO₂ sinks into sources of the climate-heating gas.

There was a global agreement to “transition away” from fossil fuels at Cop28 in Dubai in 2023, but the issue is always contested at the UN meetings.

On Tuesday, the G77 group of nations plus China, representing approximately 80% of the world’s population, announced support for an agreed process at Cop30 to support a just transition away from fossil fuels – though other countries (including Australia, Canada, Japan, Norway, the UK and the EU) did not support it.

Brazil has established an investment fund to tackle deforestation, but many countries, including the UK, have not signed up to it.

Former US vice-president Al Gore told delegates that it is “literally insane that we are allowing [global heating] to continue”.

“How long are we going to stand by and keep turning the thermostat up so that these sort of events get even worse?” he said.

“We need to adapt as well as mitigate, but we also need to be realistic that if we allow this insanity to continue, to use the sky as an open sewer, that some things will be very difficult to adapt to.”

Prof Corinne Le Quéré of the University of East Anglia, one of the 130 GCP scientists, said: “We’re not yet in a situation where emissions are going down as rapidly as they need to to tackle climate change, but at the same time emissions are growing much less rapidly than before because of the extraordinary growth in renewable energy.

“It is clear that climate policy and actions work – we are able globally to bend these curves.”

She said 35 countries, representing a quarter of the global GDP, now have growing economies but falling emissions. This has been the case in Europe and the US for some years, but these nations have now been joined by Australia, Jordan, South Korea and others.

The report projects that the level of CO₂ in the atmosphere will reach 425ppm (parts per million) in 2025, compared with 280ppm in the preindustrial era. It would have been 8ppm lower if the carbon sinks had not been weakened.

The GCP projection for 2025 is based on monthly data up to September and has proven accurate in the previous 19 annual reports.

Romain Ioualalen, at Oil Change International, said: “The countries meeting at Cop30 need to double down on renewable energy and start planning for an accelerated phaseout of fossil fuel production and use.”

ATTACHMENT NINETEEN – FROM GUK

CAN METHANE CUTS PULL US BACK FROM THE BRINK OF CLIMATE BREAKDOWN?

With temperatures breaching the Paris limit, experts say tackling the powerful gas could buy crucial time as the clean-energy shift stalls

By Fiona Harvey in Belém Sun 16 Nov 2025 03.00 EST

For two years, global temperatures have exceeded the 1.5C heating limit laid out in the Paris climate agreement.

This overshooting will have “devastating consequences”, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, has warned.

The biggest worry for scientists is that further heating could trigger irreversible tipping points, such as the widespread drying out and dying off of the Amazon, or the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, beyond which climate breakdown could spiral out of control.

For the UN, and the world, minimising and, if possible, reversing that “overshoot” must now be the priority. But shifting the world’s energy systems to burn less fossil fuel is taking decades, time we no longer have to spare. Some scientists believe the answer lies elsewhere: with the powerful greenhouse gas, methane.

“Cutting methane is the single most important strategy to slow near-term warming,” says Durwood Zaelke, the president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, and a longtime advocate of action on methane. “In fact, it’s the only strategy that has a chance of working. Cutting carbon dioxide is a marathon, but methane is a sprint.”

Methane, the main component of the natural gas that is burned around the world for fuel, is produced by natural and human-made processes, including leaky oil and gas infrastructure, livestock, and the rotting of organic material. Once in the atmosphere, it is about 80 times more powerful in trapping heat than carbon dioxide, but has a shorter life, breaking down in about 20 years.

Scientists estimate that methane alone has driven at least a third of the warming in recent years. New satellites and detection systems have revealed an unexpected truth: many countries have been massively underreporting their methane emissions, and the quantities of the gas being poured into the atmosphere have been climbing strongly, even while carbon dioxide output has been slowing.

Cutting methane would give the planet essential breathing space, staving off the worst consequences of climate breakdown while the transition to a clean energy future gathers pace. Global temperature rises could be held down by about 0.3C in the next decade with a 40% cut in methane, or by as much as 0.5C by 2050 with further cuts. If the world is to minimise the overshoot of the threshold of 1.5C above preindustrial levels, action on methane is indispensable.

“It’s the rocket in the pocket,” says Paul Bledsoe, a former Clinton White House climate adviser. “It’s effective and it’s cheap to reduce methane – two-thirds of the reductions needed from the energy sector could be done at zero net cost.”

A paper published in October in the peer-review journal Science found that substantial cuts to methane could delay key tipping points: it could reduce the likelihood of the Amazon rainforest dying back by about 8%, and of disruption to the Indian monsoon by about 13%.

The study also found that reducing methane paid for itself three times over – or six times over if health benefits were included. Cutting methane by a third by 2030 would be worth about $1tn a year for the global economy. Simon Dietz, a professor at the London School of Economics who cowrote the study, says: “The benefits of global methane action look so much larger than the costs that the economic case for action is clear. [It is] not only feasible but also economically compelling.”

Yet, action lags. More than 150 countries are bound to cut their methane levels from 2020 by 30% by 2030, under the global methane pledge signed at Cop26 in 2021. But China, India and Russia – all major producers – are missing, and the US under Donald Trump now looks unlikely to fulfil its part.

There are moves in some key countries to control the gas. In a deal struck with the US under Joe Biden in 2023, China agreed to target its methane emissions. Whether this is followed through, now that Trump has taken the White House, will be a development to watch for from China at Cop30.

The EU introduced new rules on methane last year, which not only require European companies to reduce their methane production, but also impose strict rules on the monitoring and reporting of methane associated with imports to the bloc. This means that gas imported from other countries must meet high standards, such as no routine venting and flaring.

Svitlana Romanko, the founder and executive director of Razom We Stand, said: “By enforcing transparency and accountability across the gas supply chain, including imported gas, the regulation will expose the hidden climate costs of fossil gas and reveal the true environmental footprint of unaccountable suppliers like Russia. This empowers EU consumers and policymakers to make cleaner, more ethical choices – and accelerate the shift away from fossil fuels.”

Countries wanting to reduce methane have plenty of easy, and sometimes profitable, measures to choose from. Capping off shale gas wells is low-cost and the technology well understood and widely implemented. Staunching the leaks from oil and gas platforms, pipelines and other infrastructure can save money, as the captured gas can be sold. Ending the wasteful practice of venting and flaring would be an easy win: it used to be routine, for safety, to stop methane building up and exploding, but long-established technology renders this almost always unnecessary. The best producers are 100 times more efficient than the average, and all could follow their example.

Tommaso Franci, of the Amici della Terra campaign group, said: “Methane emissions across the supply chain are a key indicator of poor environmental and operational practices in the fossil fuel industry. Reducing methane emissions in the energy sector is the most effective and rapid way to cut greenhouse gases in the short term.”

These are the positives – but the negatives are enormous. The US is one of the biggest international sources of methane, particularly from its thousands of shale gas fracking sites. Enforcing better practices on the industry would be cheap and easy, and would allay many of the social problems for people living near wells.

With Trump in the White House, no enforcement is likely – new rules formulated under Biden have been suspended. Bledsoe believes the private sector will step up nevertheless. “They recognise that reducing these emissions is part of their licence to operate with the public,” he said. “And new detection technology will expose the laggards.”

No such forces will be brought to bear on Russia, home to some of the biggest sources of methane from oil and gas installations. “We know they’re doing massive venting and flaring, and their infrastructure is leaky. But they do not provide any data,” said Bledsoe.

Abandoned coalmines are another major source, according to a recent study by the International Energy Agency. China’s coalmines alone are responsible for about a tenth of global energy-related methane leaks. “It’s a double whammy: the CO₂ from burning the coal, and the methane escaping,” said Bledsoe.

Sabina Assan, senior analyst at the thinktank Ember, says: “The technologies to mitigate coalmine methane are already available. What we need now is for companies and governments to put these solutions to work and drive emissions down.”

Zaelke wants countries to sign up to a global methane agreement that would mandate cuts and best practice throughout the global energy industry. Mia Mottley, the influential prime minister of Barbados, has also championed the idea.

Zaelke says: “There are backsliders, so if we do not turn promises into binding legislation we will not slow warming in time.”.

The chances of such an agreement being signed at Cop30 are slim, but many countries are at least increasingly open to discussions on methane, and recognise that the global methane pledge is not delivering fast enough. Most of the countries that have so far produced national plans on the climate – known as nationally determined contributions, or NDCs – have included measures dealing with the gas.

While fixing leaky energy infrastructure offers the quickest, cheapest and most direct way to cut global methane emissions, agriculture, waste and livestock are responsible for about 40% of human-made methane and cannot be ignored. A report published last month by Foodrise, Friends of the Earth US, Greenpeace Nordic and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy found that 45 of the biggest meat and dairy companies around the world generated more than 1bn tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, surpassing those of Saudi Arabia.

Yushu Xia, an assistant research professor at Columbia University, notes that there are ways to reduce methane from livestock and agriculture: for instance, improving water, fertiliser and soil management in rice production, as paddy fields are major sources; and better feeding and breeding practices for livestock, including feed additives and potentially gene editing for animals. “Better management of soils, animals, and crops that leads to lower emissions often provides additional ecosystem benefits such as improved soil health and reduced environmental pollution,” she adds.

But diets will also have to change, away from the high consumption of red meat that is a serious health problem in the developed world. Kari Hamerschlag, the deputy director of food and agriculture at Friends of the Earth, says: “If governments are serious about meeting climate goals, they can no longer ignore the climate impact of industrial meat and dairy. Binding agricultural emissions targets, full supply-chain reporting, and support for a just transition toward agroecology and more plant-based food systems are essential.”

ATTACHMENT TWENTY – FROM MSNBC

By Hayes Brown Nov. 14, 2025, 1:39 PM EST

Presidents, politicians, diplomats and scientists descended on Brazil this week to open the international climate summit known as COP30. Although California’s governor made headlines with his remarks, there is no official U.S. delegation, marking the first time that the world’s largest economy — and historically the world’s largest carbon emitter — has refused to participate in global efforts to reduce the harm of climate change.

On one level, America skipping out on the multilateral talks places a ceiling on just how much effect any commitments made at the conference will have on reducing carbon emissions globally. But in Trump’s second term, America has transformed from a potential roadblock during climate talks into an aggressive antagonist. By pulling back from the discussions underway in Belém, President Donald Trump may have given them a greater chance of success than otherwise would have existed.

America has transformed from a potential roadblock during climate talks into an aggressive antagonist.

It was clear before Trump returned to office that clean-energy technology was not part of his agenda. A centerpiece of his campaign was denouncing the “Green New Scam,” as he called it, promising to roll back the Biden administration’s climate achievements and investments in renewable energy. In its place would be a set of policies campaign officials described as working to “maximize fossil fuel production” — or, in Trump’s words, “drill, baby, drill.”

Two years ago, as another round of climate talks began, I described those Trump campaign proposals as plans to “kill us all even faster.” Amazingly, that might have been an understatement, because for the Trump administration’s strategy for American energy dominance to succeed, global moves away from fossil fuels must be kneecapped. Rather than merely ignoring the rest of the world’s efforts to forestall rising temperatures as we make polluters great again at home, what little progress other countries have made must also be rolled back.

Accordingly, U.S. diplomats have begun impeding multilateral efforts to address climate issues. Last month, the United States tanked an International Maritime Organization deal that would have required global shipping vessels to reduce their emissions or be forced to pay a fee. The treaty was all but done when the Trump administration swooped in, threatening economic sanctions against countries that agreed to the pact as well as pledging to turn away their ships from American ports. Similarly, long-running discussions to set a limit on global plastic pollution were scuttled this summer in the face of administration obstinance. As The Washington Post noted, the plastics industry has become “a crucial growth market for fossil fuel companies at a time when solar power and electric vehicle uptake is expected to eat into demand.”

, 2025 / 07:41

It’s hard then to see, then, what good an official U.S. presence might have achieved in Brazil. If anything, the absence of administration representatives is more likely a blessing in disguise, given that the negotiations rely on consensus. As a follow-up to the Paris Agreement’s goal of holding global warming to 1.5 C above preindustrial levels, COP30 is focused on nations implementing their previous pledges to reduce emissions. As things stand, though, the world is set to blow by the 2015 goal in the coming years as temperatures continue to rise unabated, prompting even more chaotic and destructive weather patterns than we are already feeling.

Still, there are some Americans at the summit. California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom is making the rounds in Brazil, taking swings at the president and presenting himself as an avatar of the post-Trump era. Beyond the obvious political calculations, Newsom’s presence speaks to California’s importance on the global stage. The state’s economy on its own is equivalent to the fourth-largest in the world, and the standards it sets for emissions and more have a deep impact on how companies everywhere do business. California is part of the U.S. Climate Alliance, a group of 24 states and U.S. territories that have pledged to reduce greenhouse gases regardless of the White House’s stance.

It’s hard then to see, then, what good an official U.S. presence might have achieved in Brazil.

The effort mirrors the strategy of COP 30 host country Brazil toward ensuring the summit’s success. As Foreign Policy reported, Brazil’s “approach to COP30 is what some climate strategists call ‘coalitions of the doing.’ Rather than waiting for absolute consensus among U.N. member states, Brazil is moving in smaller groups to push action forward and emphasizing how climate action can lead to economic development.” Those states only have to look to China’s growth in renewable energies, which makes up 10% of its entire economy, to see that there’s real potential to tap into that growth themselves.

The idea that America should be on the forefront of developing and scaling new, profitable technologies rather than playing defense for oil and coal is heretical to this administration. Instead, Washington has focused on producing ever more carbon-spewing fuels. Couple that with an obsession with artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency — which both demand vast amounts of energy to power their data centers and water to cool them — and the Trump administration’s vision is an America that is increasingly harmful to the planet’s long-term survival. Thankfully, the rest of the world isn’t waiting for us to get our act together before trying to avoid the impending climate disaster that Trump, disbelieving facts and science, derides as a hoax.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY ONE – FROM ABC

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DIDN'T SEND A DELEGATION TO COP30. HOW THE US IS MAINTAINING A PRESENCE AT THE CLIMATE SUMMIT

A coalition of 100 local U.S. leaders made the trip to Belem, Brazil.

By Julia Jacobo November 15, 2025, 5:05 AM

The United States is maintaining a presence at COP30, despite the Trump administration declining to send an official delegation to the climate conference in Brazil.

This is the first time since the inaugural Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1995 that the U.S. will not be officially represented at the annual climate summit.

However, a large number of state and local representatives -- as well as environmental nonprofits based in the U.S. -- are in attendance.

A coalition of 100 local U.S. leaders -- including governors, mayors and other top city and state officials -- made the trip to Belem, Brazil, as part of the U.S. Climate Alliance.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, among the notable Americans at COP30, bashed President Donald Trump for disregarding the event, which kicked off Monday.

“While Donald Trump skips the world stage, California is showing up -- leading, partnering, and proving what American climate leadership looks like," Newsom said on Tuesday.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, said in a press conference on Friday that the "Trump administration simply does not represent the American public on climate issues."

Whitehouse, a ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, accused the current administration of representing the fossil fuel industry, "most particularly the big fossil fuel donors who contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to Trump's political campaign."

MORE: What to know about COP30 as the international climate conference gets underway in Brazil

WHY THE U.S. DID NOT SEND ANY DELEGATES TO COP30

The Trump administration declined to send an official delegation to COP30, according to the White House.

"The U.S. is not sending any high level representatives to COP30," a White House official told ABC News ahead of the start of the conference. "The president is directly engaging with leaders around the world on energy issues, which you can see from the historic trade deals and peace deals that all have a significant focus on energy partnerships."

Last week, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told The Associated Press that COP30 is "essentially a hoax."

"It's not an honest organization looking to better human lives," Wright told the AP, follow a two-day business conference in Athens.

Wright added that he may attend next year's climate conference "just to try to deliver some common sense."

The record-breaking U.S. federal government shutdown, which ended late Wednesday, also prevented federal lawmakers from attending the conference.

MORE: Carbon cost of meat in US: This is how many greenhouse gas emissions are released

Who is at COP30?

Most of the nearly 200 countries that participate in the UNFCCC attend COP.

A total of 193 countries, plus the European Union, registered a delegation for the summit. Even North Korea sent a delegation to the climate summit, according to a Carbon Brief analysis.

The only other countries not in attendance are Afghanistan, Myanmar and San Marino, with each having displayed "sporadic" attendance at past conferences, according to Carbon Brief.

Other notable U.S. politicians who made the event include Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and former Vice President Al Gore.

Several mayors of American cities are also in attendance, including Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley and Savannah Mayor Van Johnson.

American cities have always been at the forefront of innovation and climate action, said Gallego, chair of Climate Mayors and C40 Cities vice chair, in a statement.

“Mayors across the country are doubling down to fill the current void of leadership at the federal level," Gallego said.

Other notable attendees from the U.S. at COP30 this year include Taryn Finnessey, managing director of the U.S. Climate Alliance.

MORE: Satellite appears to show new highway cutting through Brazil's Amazon rainforest

WHY EXPERTS SAY IT'S IMPORTANT THAT THE US PARTICIPATES IN COP30

It is integral that the U.S., as one of the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases, to be present at every COP, environmental advocates told ABC News.

The U.S. shapes markets, capital flows and technology pathways, and therefore engagement by Americans signals to investors that the world's largest economy understands the competitiveness, innovation, security and supply-chain stakes of the energy transition, Maria Mendiluce, CEO of the We Mean Business Coalition, told ABC News.

"The U.S. has a decisive role in global climate, energy and industrial policy, so sub-national leaders, non-state actors and businesses showing up at COP30 matters," Mendiluce said.

Being on the ground at COP is "essential" so delegations can engage with "full strength," Max Frankel, director of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition Institute, told ABC News.

In addition, the scope and urgency of the climate crisis demands an international response, Max Holmes, president and CEO of the Woodwell Climate Research Center, told ABC News.

It is important to let other countries know that many Americans are still working to combat climate change, Lynda Hopkins, supervisor of California's 5th district, County of Sonoma, told ABC News.

Although the White House isn't in Belem to represent U.S. interest, Americans at COP30 are still working for solutions that are in the best interest of the country, Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, told ABC News.

"While the Trump administration retreats, the people and companies here are seizing the opportunity to innovate, create jobs, and build safer, healthier futures," Krupp said.

MORE: How global tourism is negatively impacting climate change

Although Hopkins said she and other American subnational delegates were "warmly received" by other countries, some prominent figures at COP30 indicated that the U.S. was not needed at the conference to accomplish goals.

Christiana Figueres, a diplomat from Costa Rica who played a key role in the inception of the 2015 Paris Agreement, said the U.S. would not be able to "do their direct bullying" due to the Trump administration's boycott of the summit.

"I actually think it is a good thing," Figueres said during a press conference on Tuesday.

Figueres then said, "Ciao, bambino," which translates to "Bye, little boy," in Italian, in response to Trump withdrawing from the Paris Agreement for the second time.

Patrick Drupp, director of climate policy for the Sierra Club, described the Trump administration's absence as "shortsighted decision" and a "slap in the face" to Americans who want clean air and water and lower energy costs.

"The reality is that this work will continue with or without America," Frankel said.

COP30 is scheduled to run through Nov. 21.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY TWO – FROM CNBC

COP30 GETS UNDERWAY IN BRAZIL — AND A TRUMP-SHAPED HOLE IS HANGING OVER THE CLIMATE SUMMIT

By Sam Meredith Published Mon, Nov 10 20251:20 AM ESTUpdated Tue, Nov 11 20253:41 AM EST

Key Points

· U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to be notably absent as delegations from almost every country convene in Belem, Brazil for the U.N. climate summit.

· COP30 comes at a time when the impacts of climate change have become increasingly clear across the globe.

· Climate action, however, has slipped down the immediate geopolitical agenda.

· U.N. climate talks get underway in Brazil on Monday, with delegations from almost every country set to convene on the outskirts of the Amazon rainforest to discuss how to tackle the climate crisis.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump will be one notable absentee, however. The White House has confirmed it does not intend to send any high-level representatives to the summit, marking an unprecedented absence of U.S. officials at the conference.

Roughly 50,000 delegates are expected to attend the 30th edition of the U.N. climate conference, known as COP30, with talks set to run through to Nov. 21.

Anna Aberg, research fellow at the Environment and Society Centre at Chatham House, a London-based think tank, said it was likely a positive for the international community that the Trump administration won’t send any officials to Belem.

“It’s, of course, really unfortunate that the Trump administration has withdrawn the U.S. from the Paris Agreement for a second time … and that they are pursuing this very forceful anti-climate agenda both in the U.S., and increasingly also overseas,” Aberg told CNBC by telephone.

“In light of this, I think it is just as well that they’re not sending any senior officials to COP to be honest because I don’t know what they would have been able to contribute given the way Trump is talking about climate change.”

Trump’s views on the climate crisis are well known.

The U.S. president has repeatedly described global heating as a “hoax” and speaking at the U.N. General Assembly in late September, said that climate change was the “greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.”

Trump also urged other countries to shift away from renewable energy. “If you don’t get away from the green energy scam, your country is going to fail,” Trump said on Sept. 23.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are among some of the other heads of state expected to skip the talks, although both countries are set to send delegations in their place.

What’s on the table at COP30?

The annual U.N. climate summit is seen as a prime opportunity for the international community to move from setting decarbonization targets to delivering on them.

Some of the core issues set to be discussed include a push to deliver on national climate commitments (NDCs), a transformation of the global financial system, ramping up adaptation measures and taking steps to protect nature.

The conference comes at a time when the impacts of climate change have become increasingly clear — even as the issue has slipped down the immediate geopolitical agenda.

Read more

Why insurers worry the world could soon become uninsurable

Trump’s climate retreat stirs a sense of déjà vu — and prompts a warning from the UN

World likely to blast beyond grim warming milestone in the next 5 years, UN weather agency says

Speaking to world leaders as they prepare to convene for COP30, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres called for urgent action to drive down global temperatures and keep the 1.5 degrees Celsius target within reach.

“Every fraction of a degree means more hunger, displacement, and loss – especially for those least responsible. It could push ecosystems past irreversible tipping points, expose billions to unlivable conditions, and amplify threats to peace and security,” Guterres said on Thursday in Belém.

Failure to limit global heating would amount to “moral failure and deadly negligence,” he added.

One of the most important issues at stake at COP30, Chatham House’s Aberg said, was for the international community to deliver a shot in the arm for global efforts to tackle the climate crisis.

“We’re in this really tricky geopolitical environment, not least given the U.S. withdrawal, and there are lots of things that this COP needs to achieve,” Aberg said.

“But I actually think that the most important thing it can do is to send a signal to the rest of the world that there are still governments and businesses and institutions that want to take action on climate change and are already taking action on climate change.”

Like many others, Aberg said that while the U.N. talks will be “really important” in shaping the discussion on how to tackle the climate crisis, the outcome was highly likely to be underwhelming.

Business leaders called on policymakers to provide further incentives to help accelerate climate action.

Anders Danielsson, CEO of Skanska, for example, said the Swedish construction company is confident it can deliver on its own climate targets, while acknowledging that “we cannot do it on our own.”

Speaking to CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition” on Thursday, Danielsson said: “We need political willingness to drive this forward.”

Tobias Meyer, CEO of logistics giant DHL Group, said that he “strongly” believed a global price on carbon would be the best incentive to help curb rising greenhouse gas emissions.

“I think we need to get the job done,” Meyer told CNBC on Thursday. “We need a price [on] CO2 emissions that needs to be done globally. That’s the best tool. Strongly believe in that, and then business needs to react to those price signals and use the technology that is available to drive down emissions.”

Meanwhile, Henrik Andersen, CEO of Danish wind turbine firm Vestas, urged renewable industry leaders to make sure they continue to make themselves heard in the shift toward low-carbon technologies.

“It’s not only about COP,” Andersen told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Wednesday. “When COP becomes a theoretical exercise to calculate what it means to keep 1.5 degrees increase [alive] and it’s no longer possible, then probably reinvent yourself is my best advice,” he added.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY THREE – FROM FROM REUTERS OPENING – EXCERPTED FROM ATTACHMENT FIVE

Trump’s boasts on American fossil fuel resources came a day before UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hosts a climate summit at the UN that will focus on countries' new climate action plans.

Guterres has tried to keep the world focused on continuing a global transition away from fossil fuels towards clean energy.

“Just follow the money,” Guterres said in June, adding that $2 trillion flowed into clean energy last year, $800 billion more than fossil fuels and up almost 70% in a decade.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY FOUR – FROM WASHINGTON TIMES

U.S. SHOULD WITHDRAW FROM CLIMATE PACT NOW

Leaving the UNFCCC would be Trump's ultimate victory

By Frank Lasee - Wednesday, November 5, 2025

OPINION:

President Trump, fresh off his masterful blockade of the United Nations’ global carbon tax for international shipping and his decisive withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, has once again put “America First.” There is more work to do. To fully dismantle the globalist climate scam that is draining our economy and sovereignty, it’s time for the boldest move yet: pull the United States out of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

This 1992 relic, the mother ship of all U.N. climate machinations, shackles us to endless reporting, funding obligations and bureaucratic overreach. Mr. President, you have shown the courage to torpedo the Paris agreement. Now sink the UNFCCC and free America from this outdated, unfair treaty.

The signs are already there that your administration is paving the way. By refusing to submit our annual greenhouse gas inventory, a basic UNFCCC requirement, the U.S. has signaled that we’re done playing by its rules. Shuttering the State Department Office of Global Change, which has long hobbled us with participation in these agreements, is another masterstroke.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to eliminate climate tracking offices underscores your commitment to energy dominance over empty climate virtue signaling.

These actions aren’t accidents; they offer a road map to full withdrawal. As a former Trump climate official noted, your team is taking a “sledgehammer” to climate programming. Why stop short of the treaty itself?

The UNFCCC is taxation (because climate change policy is expensive and requires ever more bureaucrats that our tax dollars pay for, as well as climate transfer payments) without representation on steroids. As an Annex I nation, we are forced to lead on emissions cuts while funding developing countries’ “adaptations” to phantom crises. This means billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars funneled into U.N. slush funds, dwarfing the organization’s own budget and enriching bureaucrats in Geneva and New York.

Remember the recent shipping carbon tax fiasco? That annual $10 billion to $13 billion “green” fund was just a taste; the UNFCCC enables endless schemes like it. Leaving would be another step in ending European world climate agendas and Chinese dominance in “clean” technology built on coal, forced labor and our subsidies. Withdrawing would end our disproportionate burden. China, our geopolitical rival and international bully, with 34% of global emissions, gets a bye.

· America’s long road back to rare earths independence

· School aide fired over Trump backpack, water bottle declares ‘victory’ in legal settlement

· Trump celebrates win against climate ‘hoax’ after Bill Gates pivots on global warming

It’s economic sabotage masquerading as salvation. The treaty demands that we report every puff of carbon dioxide, tying our hands on fossil fuels — America’s strength — while China, the world’s top emitter, corners markets with cheap energy and ever-growing emissions.

Mr. Trump’s exit from the Paris Agreement was brilliant, but staying in the UNFCCC keeps us at the COP table, where hypocrites like those at COP30 chop down 100,000 Amazon trees for a “climate” road and will spend their time figuring out how to make the U.S. and other “wealthy” countries cough up trillions of dollars for them to redistribute to “poor” nations.

Why fund this farce? As Secretary of State Marco Rubio aptly put it, we have inherited 30 years of foreign policy that is good for the world but bad for America. It’s time for an America-centric reset. Keep putting America and American interests first. Leaving this treaty is another big step in the right direction.

U.N. corruption runs deep: favoritism, poor accountability and scandals galore. Withdrawing echoes our founding grievances; no more doling out billions of dollars with little say over how it is spent. All this wasted climate spending won’t change the planet’s temperature one iota.

Carbon dioxide is the gas of life, greening the Earth and enhancing crop growth. Alarmists peddle made-up doomsday scenarios while ignoring thriving forests the size of France that have regrown in just 20 years, and shrinking deserts. Mr. Trump’s threats of tariffs and visa blocks rattled other countries into delaying the shipping tax. Imagine the power of a full UNFCCC exit.

Critics whine about isolation; that’s just globalist fearmongering. We would yield no real field. The UNFCCC is a talk shop that achieves nothing in terms of emissions reductions while punishing producers. They continue to fail as emissions continue to rise, with China and India leading the way, having built 700 coal plants that will last 40 years or more.

Mr. President, you’ve revoked the Inflation Reduction Act, halted green subsidies, and prioritized reliable, affordable oil, natural gas and coal. Withdrawing from the UNFCCC locks in these wins; future Democrats couldn’t rejoin without Senate ratification. It’s your legacy: unshackling America from neocolonial wealth transfers.

Notify the United Nations today; effective next year, we’ll thrive with low taxes, innovation, energy independence, less climate bureaucracy, and a more secure future. America didn’t fight for freedom to fund foreign fantasies. Ditch the UNFCCC and make America even greater, forever.

• Frank Lasee is the president of Truth in Energy & Climate and a former Wisconsin state senator.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY FIVE – FROM NATIONAL REVIEW

BILL GATES BACKTRACKS ON CLIMATE CHANGE DOOMSAYING: ‘WILL NOT LEAD TO HUMANITY’S DEMISE’

By Brittany Bernstein October 28, 2025 1:00 PM

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates now says climate change “will not lead to humanity’s demise,” despite having spent years fearmongering over rising global temperatures.

Gates authored a surprising blog post on Monday advocating for climate activists to move away from the “doomsday outlook” they have spent years peddling.

“Although climate change will have serious consequences — particularly for people in the poorest countries — it will not lead to humanity’s demise,” wrote Gates, who has spent billions of dollars on climate-related initiatives. “People will be able to live and thrive in most places on Earth for the foreseeable future.”

Gates’s post represents a sharp departure from his prior rhetoric on the issue; he previously claimed climate change “will be one of the greatest challenges humans have ever taken on — greater than landing on the moon, greater than eradicating smallpox, even greater than putting a computer on every desk.”

Just four years ago he wrote a book on How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, and he has suggested climate change “could be worse” than the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, Gates now suggests “we should measure success by our impact on human welfare more than our impact on the global temperature.”

He is calling for a “strategic pivot” in addressing climate change and says rather than focusing on trying to limit rising temperatures, climate advocacy should focus on efforts to prevent disease and poverty.

Gates’s post comes ahead of the COP30 U.N. climate summit, which will take place in the Brazilian rainforest city of Belém next week. He said the summit is “a chance to refocus on the metric that should count even more than emissions and temperature change: improving lives.”

“Although climate change will hurt poor people more than anyone else, for the vast majority of them it will not be the only or even the biggest threat to their lives and welfare,” Gates wrote.

“The biggest problems are poverty and disease, just as they always have been. Understanding this will let us focus our limited resources on interventions that will have the greatest impact for the most vulnerable people.”

Gates’s comments come nearly a decade after world leaders adopted the Paris climate agreement, with the goal of limiting temperature warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels.

Gates now calls that goal unrealistic.

The billionaire’s comments put him at odds with the UN secretary general, who on Monday warned of “devastating consequences” for the world as the UN said leaders had failed its goal of limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“The truth is that we have failed to avoid an overshooting above 1.5C in the next few years. And that going above 1.5C has devastating consequences. Some of these devastating consequences are tipping points, be it in the Amazon, be it in Greenland, or western Antarctica or the coral reefs,” UN Secretary General António Guterres told The Guardian.

“It is absolutely indispensable to change course in order to make sure that the overshoot is as short as possible and as low in intensity as possible to avoid tipping points like the Amazon,” he added. “We don’t want to see the Amazon as a savannah. But that is a real risk if we don’t change course and if we don’t make a dramatic decrease of emissions as soon as possible.”

ATTACHMENT TWENTY SIX – FROM NEWSWEEK

COP30 CLIMATE TALKS FLOODED WITH FOSSIL FUEL LOBBYISTS: REPORT

By Jeff Young Nov 14, 2025 at 12:00 AM EST

More than 1,600 fossil fuel lobbyists are registered for the COP30 climate talks underway in Belém, Brazil, according to an analysis by a coalition of environmental and social justice groups.

The group’s review of people granted access to COP30 found that fossil fuel lobbyists at the climate talks outnumber the delegations from nearly every country (only host country Brazil has more people present). According to the analysis, one in every 25 participants at the gathering in Belém represents the fossil fuel industry.

“It is infuriating to watch their influence deepen year after year, making a mockery of the process and of the communities suffering its consequences,” Jax Bongon of the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition said in a statement. Bongon is a resident of the Philippines where a super typhoon Fung-wong made landfall just as the COP30 talks were getting underway early this week bringing widespread flooding and damage.

Climate scientists say climate change has created ocean conditions that supercharge ocean storms, making them more intense. Bongon said the analysis shows a need to protect the United Nations climate policymaking process from corporate capture.

“It’s common sense that you cannot solve a problem by giving power to those who caused it,” he said.

The coalition has done similar analyses of fossil fuel industry presence at previous COP gatherings. At COP28 in 2023, hosted by the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, the group identified more than 2,400 attendees as fossil fuel lobbyists.

However, the group noted, because overall attendance at COP30 is much lower than at COP28, the proportion of fossil fuel lobbyists in Belém is higher.

Vanessa Kerry on Bill Gates’ ‘Very Dangerous’Climate Memo: Newsweek COP30

Amazonians Want COP30 to Listen to the Amazon, Not Just Talk About It

The group identified fossil fuel lobbyists among many official country delegations. Other lobbyists gain “behind the scenes” access with special badges that allow access to the inner workings of the negotiations, the group’s report said.

The coalition also identified fossil fuel lobbyists among major trade associations, which the group called “a primary vehicle for fossil fuel influence.”

The group’s analysis singled out the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) for bringing 148 lobbyists to COP30.

Andrew Wilson, deputy secretary-general for policy at ICC, disputed the report’s findings and said that the numbers are overstated. Wilson told Newsweek that the ICC brought a total of 148 members to Belém.

“That should not be read as 148 tickets went to the fossil fuel industry,” Wilson said. “Only three went to fossil fuel companies.”

Wilson said the ICC is “absolutely committed” to the Paris Climate Agreement.

“Our aim is to accelerate the energy transition,” he said. “We see fossil fuel companies as a vital part of that journey given our energy needs.”

The oil and gas industry's presence at COP has been a long-standing point of contention at the annual COP climate talks and climate action groups complain that such access allows the industry to stymie efforts to phase out fossil fuels.  

A report released in October by scholars at the Climate Social Science Network described more than a dozen ways that industry actors can halt progress, concluding that “obstruction has become a defining feature” of the United Nations climate process.  

Obstruction “is often subtle and context-specific, making it difficult for negotiators, observers, and civil society to identify obstruction tactics in real time and even harder to counter effectively.”

In a call with journalists just before COP30, Rhode Island Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a leading voice for climate action on Capitol Hill, expressed frustration at the fossil fuel industry’s tactics.

“We’ve been too nice about this for too damn long,” Whitehouse said, accusing the industry of perpetrating “climate denial fraud” for decades. “The most corrupting influence we face is the dark money corruption of the fossil fuel industry.”

COP30 Climate Talks Flooded With Fossil Fuel Lobbyists: Report

Vanessa Kerry on Bill Gates’ ‘Very Dangerous’ Climate Memo: Newsweek COP30

Amazonians Want COP30 to Listen to the Amazon, Not Just Talk About It

COP30 Begins with Warning That No Country Can Afford Climate Disasters

Who and What to Watch as the World Gathers for COP30 Climate Talks

‘Disappointing’ Climate Pledges Still Off Target, U.N. Report Finds

ATTACHMENT TWENTY SEVEN – FROM NATIONAL REVIEW

THE WAR ON PLASTIC IS GETTING OUT OF HAND

Members of the military reinforce security during the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP30), in Belem, Brazil, November 14, 2025. (Adriano Machado/Reuters)

By David Clement November 15, 2025 6:30 AM

There is a better way.

The world’s largest climate conference, COP30, began this week in Brazil — but without the United States in attendance. Some activists are relieved that President Trump sent no delegation this year, in no small part because the administration thwarted a United Nations “plastics treaty” back in August, which COP30 attendees can now relitigate in peace. But when these left-wing climate activists aren’t busy praising China — the world's leading polluter — for its clean energy efforts, or bemoaning the loss of their ally against plastics, former President Joe Biden, they continue promoting a misguided global crackdown on single-use plastics. While COP30 is toothless on this ...

ATTACHMENT TWENTY EIGHT– FROM GUK

MORE THAN 300 BIG AGRICULTURE LOBBYISTS HAVE TAKEN PART IN COP30, INVESTIGATION FINDS

Lobbyists representing industry responsible for a quarter to a third of global emissions participated in key talks at the UN climate summit

By Rachel Sherrington and Nina Lakhani Tue 18 Nov 2025 03.00 EST

More than 300 industrial agriculture lobbyists have participated at this year’s UN climate talks taking place in the Brazilian Amazon, where the industry is the leading cause of deforestation, a new investigation has found.

The number of lobbyists representing the interests of industrial cattle farming, commodity grains and pesticides is up 14% on last year’s summit in Baku – and larger than the delegation of the world’s 10th largest economy, Canada, which brought 220 delegates to Cop30 in Belém, according to the joint investigation by DeSmog and the Guardian.

One in four of the big agriculture lobbyists (77) are participating at Cop30 as part of an official country delegation, with a small subset (six) with privileged access to the UN negotiations where countries are meant to hash out ambitious policies to curtail global climate catastrophe.

Agriculture is responsible for a quarter to a third of global emissions and scientists say it will be impossible to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris agreement without radical changes to the way we produce and consume food.

Cattle ranching is the biggest driver of deforestation in the Amazon, followed by the industrial production of soy, which is mostly used for animal feed. Scientists have warned that as much as half of the Amazon rainforest could hit a tipping point by 2050 as a result of water stress, land clearance and climate disruption.

“More than 300 agribusiness lobbyists occupy the space at Cop30 that should belong to the forest peoples. While they talk about energy transition, they release oil into the Amazon’s basin and privatize rivers like the Tapajós for soy. For us, this is not development, it is violence,” said Vandria Borari of the Borari Kuximawara Indigenous Association of the Alter do Chão territory.

The revelations come amid growing frustration at the unfettered access given to corporations that profit from maintaining global dependence on fossil fuels and/or the destruction of forests and other ecosystems vital for mitigating climate catastrophe.

The industrialised food sector has celebrated the lack of action at recent climate summits, which failed to recommend binding targets for reductions in emissions, fossil fuel use or meat consumption. A 2020 study found that even if fossil fuels were immediately eliminated, business as usual in the food sector probably puts the goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C above preindustrial levels – and even the 2C goal – out of reach.

Meat and dairy sent the largest number, accounting for 72 of the total 302 delegates. This is almost double the number negotiating on behalf of Jamaica, the Caribbean island nation left devastated by Hurricane Melissa last month – a superstorm scientists say was made more intense by human-made global heating. India, a country of 1.45 billion people facing major climate challenges, sent a delegation of 87 negotiators.

According to a recent analysis from Friends of the Earth US, the emissions of the 45 largest meat and dairy companies are equivalent to those of Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil producer. JBS, the world’s largest meat company which alone accounts for a quarter (24%) of the emissions, has eight lobbyists at Cop30 including its CEO, Gilberto Tomazoni.

Agrochemicals – pesticides and synthetic fertilisers – account for 60 delegates, and biofuels have 38 representatives – a 138% jump since last year. The pesticides giant Bayer sent 19 lobbyists, the highest number, while Nestlé has nine.

Most synthetic fertilisers are derived from fossil fuels and emit nitrous oxide – a greenhouse gas 300 times more powerful than CO₂, of which agriculture is the largest driver.

“These findings are proof that industrial agriculture has been allowed to co-opt the climate convention. Cop will never deliver real climate action as long as industry lobbyists are allowed to influence governments and negotiators,” said Lidy Nacpil of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development.

Food is not a focus of this year’s negotiations, but the sector stands to benefit from multiple key topics on the table including decisions over biofuels – many of which are produced from agricultural commodities such as corn and soy driving deforestation.

Brazil is pushing for a quadrupling of biofuel use, which is often marketed as a green energy – but a recent study found they can generate 16% more emissions than fossil fuels due to the land use impacts of growing monocrops.

Also key is climate finance, of which the world’s largest agricultural polluters, already major recipients of public subsidies – are positioning themselves to receive large shares.

“What’s happening in Belém is not a climate conference but a hostage negotiation over the future of the planet where those holding the detonators – the soy barons, the beef cartels, the pesticide peddlers – are seated at the table as honest brokers,” said Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System.

“These food lobbyists are purchasing access and legitimacy through politicians willing to accept their checks while the planet burns, added Patel, research professor in the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin.

The analysis is based on the UNFCCC’s provisional list of 56,000 Cop30 delegates, and includes representatives of the largest corporations of meat and dairy, pesticides and fertiliser, food processors, commodity and seed traders, grocery retail and biofuels. The numbers also include global and regional trade groups, and national farmer unions and institutes with corporate affiliations and/or a history of lobbying aligned with industry demands.

The Brazilian National Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA), the agribusiness sector’s main lobbying arm in Congress, has supported several controversial anti-environmental laws including a bill that restricts the demarcation of and access to land for Indigenous populations, and attempted to overturn the Amazon soy moratorium, a landmark voluntary agreement to block the sale of soya linked to deforestation.

The Meat Institute – which represents 350 meatpacking and processing companies that produce 95% of the meat and poultry in the US – has two delegates. The trade group has lobbied hard against regulations including opposing efforts to force US companies to disclose the full extent of their emissions, and against changes to dietary guidelines around reducing red meat consumption.

In the US, agribusiness corporations and trade groups spent well over half a billion dollars lobbying Congress between 2019 and 2023 for favourable legislation, so it’s unsurprising to see big ag at Cop30, according to Karen Perry Stillerman, deputy director of the food and environment program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“Advocates are already calling for the fossil fuel industry and its disinformation to be banned from future climate talks, and the influence of big ag is similarly toxic … we won’t have sustainable, fair, healthy or climate-resilient food systems anywhere in the world as long as giant agribusiness and food corporations are making the rules.”

The industrial agricultural participation is up 71% compared to Cop27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, but down from the record high at Cop28 in Dubai, which was the largest ever UN summit with 86,000 delegates, compared with 56,000 registered in Brazil.

A spokesperson for Bayer said: “We have been transparent on our Cop engagements … we firmly support actions to avert the climate crisis. The process needs all hands on deck.”

A spokesperson at JBS said in a statement: “JBS, as a food company, is concentrated on increasing farm productivity, enhancing food system efficiency, and reducing food loss and waste.”

Nestlé, CNA and the Meat Institute did not respond to requests for comment. The Brazilian Cop30 presidency and UNFCCC also did not respond to requests for comment.

ATTACHMENT TWENTY NINE – FROM FOX NEWS, YAKIMA WA

A RARE OIL CEO SHOWS UP AT COP30, SPARS WITH ACTIVISTS

by Julien MIVIELLE November 14, 2025 9:12 am

The head of France’s TotalEnergies, one of the few oil executives to attend UN climate talks in Brazil, jousted Friday with activists, defended his presence and sidestepped questions about his sector’s role in global warming.

After speaking in a panel at COP30 in Belem, TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne was confronted by a Greenpeace activist over demands that the fossil fuel industry compensate victims of extreme weather events.

“There have been cyclones in the Caribbean for decades,” Pouyanne retorted.

When told they were “accelerating,” he replied: “I am not a scientist.”

“I am not a meteorologist,” Pouyanne said when asked by AFP about science showing hurricanes are becoming more intense.

“I simply observe that, unfortunately, there were (cyclones), there are still (cyclones) and there will be more.”

The IPCC, the UN-mandated body that assesses climate science, has concluded that climate change is not expected to increase the total number of tropical cyclones, but that the frequency of more intense storms will rise.

Emissions from burning fossil fuels — oil, gas and coal — are the main drivers of climate change.

Pouyanne attended an event on decarbonizing the oil and gas industry. An executive from Brazilian state-owned energy firm Petrobras and a government official also spoke.

The head of COP30, Brazilian diplomat Andre Correa do Lago, cancelled his appearance to speak with Indigenous protesters who had blocked the main access to the conference center.

The Greenpeace activist pointed to a report from NGOs denouncing the presence of many lobbyists tied to the fossil fuel industry at COP30.

A total of 1,602 delegates with links to the oil, gas and coal sectors have headed to Belem, equivalent to around one in 25 participants, according to Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO), which analyzed the list of attendees.

“I am not a lobbyist at all. … You are very wrong,” Pouyanne said.

“I was invited. I came and I believe in dialogue. I don’t think we will make progress on climate through exclusion because otherwise what will happen? We will stay in our corner, we’ll make our oil and that’s it?”

He also was skeptical about the prospect of a roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels, an idea that some countries, including France, would like to officially launch at COP30.

“It’s a European vision, organized by governments. Perhaps we should also trust the stakeholders who are investing,” Pouyanne said.

“Thinking that we’ll succeed through regulation alone — we’re starting to realize that won’t work.”

jmi/lth/ia/sms

ATTACHMENT THIRTY – FROM THE CONVERSATION

BRAZIL IS TRYING TO STOP FOSSIL FUEL INTERESTS DERAILING COP30 WITH ONE SIMPLE MEASURE

By Christian Downie Published: November 19, 2025 2:06pm EST

In recent years, more and more lobbyists from the oil, gas and coal industries have taken part in international climate negotiations. Estimates of lobbyist numbers have risen sharply, from 503 at the 2021 Glasgow talks to 1,773 at last year’s talks in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku.

Ahead of this year’s climate talks, host nation Brazil moved to tackle climate disinformation and delay tactics with a simple but clear approach: asking participants to publicly disclose who funded them to attend.

Even so, around 1,600 fossil fuel lobbyists arrived at the COP30 climate talks in Belém, Brazil. If taken as a bloc, they would outnumber every national delegation other than the host nation.

This shows the size of the challenge Brazil took on as the first COP host in 30 years to push back against the tide of fossil fuel lobbying and climate misinformation. If this isn’t tackled head on, climate negotiations will keep avoiding the core issue: phasing out oil, gas and coal, the commodities doing most damage.

Lobbying and disinformation in the spotlight

The reason lobbyists are sent is to protect existing revenue streams. Fossil fuel companies invest in lobbying because it works – and not just on climate. In August, the UN talks on plastic pollution collapsed for the second time. Hundreds of fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists had registered to attend. Many lobbied to expand recycling rather than reducing the production of new plastics.

This year, Brazil launched the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change. The aim is to foster:

Concrete solutions to address disinformation and related tactics seeking to delay and derail climate action.

It’s the first time lobbying and disinformation have been targeted in this way. The UN has launched new guidelines asking participants to disclose funding for their attendance – and to sign a pledge confirming their objectives align with the Paris Agreement goals of holding climate change to 1.5°C.

The guidelines are optional and don’t include lobbyists participating as part of a national delegation. But it’s an encouraging sign the UN recognises the need to improve transparency and accountability.

On the first day of the talks, UN experts drew on the influential recent findings by the International Court of Justice that states and companies could be held legally liable for damage caused by extraction of fossil fuels. They called for a ban on fossil lobbyists and more transparency.

How fossil fuel lobbying corrupts climate negotiations

Brazil’s efforts to draw attention to the problem comes after decades of obstructionist tactics.

In 1988, big companies created the Global Climate Coalition to represent the oil, gas, coal, utility and agriculture industries. The group had a clear goal: block or delay efforts by the United States government to limit the use of fossil fuels. It worked.

Researchers have shown these lobbying efforts were instrumental in then US President George W. Bush’s 2001 decision to pull out of the Kyoto Protocol. The move influenced Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s decision not to ratify Kyoto a year later. The decision set back the negotiations for years, as US support for climate negotiations became increasingly uncertain.

The names of these obstructionist coalitions have changed over the years. But as my colleagues and I describe in our recent book, many of the original companies paying to block climate action are still supporting similar groups.

At international forums such as the UN climate talks, lobbyists funded by these companies can play a double game. They can point to a lack of international action as a reason for not acting on climate change at home, while using diplomatic strategies to obstruct progress at the same international talks.

The petrostate problem

It’s not just corporations seeking to blunt climate ambition. Nations do too.

According to the Carbon Tracker Initiative, 13 nations derive more than 50% of their GDP from fossil fuels. Alongside highly-dependent petrostates are other major fossil fuel exporters such as Russia and the US.

Not all petrostates lobby to block climate action. But many do. For example, one of the world’s largest oil producers, Saudi Arabia, has repeatedly worked to undermine the science on climate change at international negotiations.

At the 2023 climate talks in the United Arab Emirates, the Climate Action Network NGO coalition gave its Fossil of the Day award to Saudi Arabia for “repeated blocking across negotiation tracks”.

At these talks, the COP President, Sultan Al Jaber, claimed there was “no science” supporting a fossil fuel phase out to meet Paris Agreement goals, though he later walked this back. Al Jaber also heads up Abu Dhabi’s national oil company.

Over the years, many countries have switched between advancing and derailing negotiations. A US-China deal helped get the historic Paris Agreement over the line in 2015 under President Barack Obama. But under President Donald Trump, the US has withdrawn twice from the Paris Agreement.

What can we expect next?

Many of these issues have not been solved. As the US retreats from international environmental agreements, fossil fuel lobbyists from companies and countries are still showing up in numbers in environmental negotiations to try to get favourable outcomes.

Brazil’s effort to tackle climate misinformation and lobbying begins the work to rebuild integrity and public trust in these negotiations.

If Australia’s bid to co-host COP31 alongside Pacific nations is successful, the government would be well-advised to build on Brazil’s work.

For weeks, an Australian parliamentary inquiry into climate misinformation has heard of sophisticated political campaigns designed to obstruct climate action at home.

The time is ripe to tackle this problem abroad as well.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY ONE – FROM FOX NEWS, SPOKANE WA

CLIMATE PROTESTERS RALLY IN BRAZIL AT COP30 HALFWAY MARK

by Facundo Fernandez Barrio and Issam Ahmed AFP November 15, 2025 5:32 am

Thousands of people marched through the streets of Belem on Saturday to press for action from negotiators holding tough talks at the UN’s COP30 climate conference in the Amazonian city.

Under a baking sun, Indigenous people mixed with activists gathered in a festive atmosphere, blasting music from speakers, carrying a giant beach ball of Earth and holding a flag of Brazil emblazoned with the words “Protected Amazon.”

It was the first major protest outside the annual climate talks since COP26 four years ago in Glasgow, as the last three gatherings were held in locations with little tolerance for demonstrations — Egypt, Dubai and Azerbaijan.

Branded the “Great People’s March” by organizers, the Belem rally comes at the halfway point of contentious negotiations and follows two Indigenous-led protests that disrupted proceedings earlier in the week.

“Today we are witnessing a massacre as our forest is being destroyed,” Benedito Huni Kuin, a 50-year-old member of the Huni Kuin Indigenous group from western Brazil, told AFP.

“We want to make our voices heard from the Amazon and demand results,” he said. “We need more Indigenous representatives at COP to defend our rights.”

Tyrone Scott, a 31-year-old Briton from the anti-poverty group War on Want, said it was an “Indigenous-led, movement-led, people-powered march.”

“It’s just really exciting and a little bit of a nice antidote to the staleness and sterileness of the inside of the COP,” Scott told AFP.

Their demands include “reparations” for damage caused by corporations and governments, especially to marginalized communities.

Some also held a giant Palestinian flag and “free Palestine” banner. One protester on stilts dressed as Uncle Sam denounced “imperialism.”

After a 4.5-kilometer (2.8-mile) march through the city, the demonstration was due to stop a flew blocks from the COP30 venue, where authorities have deployed soldiers to protect the site.

On Tuesday, Indigenous protesters forced their way into the Parque da Cidade — the COP30 compound built on the site of a former airport — clashing with security personnel, some of whom sustained minor injuries.

Then on Friday, dozens of Indigenous protesters blocked the entrance for roughly two hours to spotlight their struggles in the Amazon, prompting high-level interventions to defuse the situation.

– Love letters and therapy –

Inside the venue, talks are delicately poised.

At the close of the first week of negotiations, the Brazilian presidency of COP30 is expected to unveil its strategy on Saturday for reconciling countries’ demands.

The top issues include how to address weak climate goals and how to improve financial flows from rich to poor countries to build resilience against a warming world and transition to low-emission economies.

So-called trade barriers, such as Europe’s carbon border tax, have emerged as a key contention, as has the issue of whether to set timelines and targets for the transition away from fossil fuels.

Several participants believe that negotiators are holding firm to their positions while awaiting the arrival next week of government ministers, who must reach an agreement by the conference’s end on November 21.

An African negotiator hoped the presidency would take the lead, “otherwise this could turn out to be an empty COP,” he said, contrasting with the optimism expressed by others.

The “parties are here to get a positive outcome,” German State Secretary Jochen Flasbarth said.

Another Western diplomat said the Brazilian presidency had urged countries to treat their consultations as “therapy sessions” — a safe space to air concerns.

Delegations were also encouraged to send private submissions describing how they felt the talks were progressing, which the Brazilians referred to as “love letters.”

“These negotiations, they are like a roller coaster sometimes, you know, they are up, sometimes they are down,” summarized Brazil’s chief negotiator, Liliam Chagas.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY TWO – FROM CBS

CLIMATE PROTESTERS MARCH ON COP30 WITH COSTUMES AND DRUMS DEMANDING TO BE HEARD

November 15, 2025 / 11:37 AM EST / CBS/AP

Some wore black dresses to signify a funeral for fossil fuels. Hundreds wore red shirts, symbolizing the blood of colleagues fighting to protect the environment. And others chanted, waved huge flags or held up signs Saturday in what's traditionally the biggest day of protest at the halfway point of annual United Nations climate talks.

Organizers with booming sound systems on trucks with raised platforms directed protesters from a wide range of environmental and social movements. Marisol Garcia, a Kichwa woman from Peru marching at the head of one group, said protesters are there to put pressure on world leaders to make "more humanized decisions."

Protestors demand to be heard during climate march

The demonstrators walked about 2.5 miles on a route that took them near the main venue for the talks, known as COP30. Protesters earlier this week twice disrupted the talks by surrounding the venue, including an incident on Tuesday where two security guards suffered minor injuries.

A full day of sessions was planned at the venue, including talks on how to move forward with $300 billion a year in annual climate financial aid that rich countries agreed last year to give to poor nations to help wean themselves off fossil fuels, adapt to a nastier, warmer world and compensate for extreme weather damage. Global temperatures, greenhouse gas emissions and sea levels all reached record highs in 2024, the State of the Global Climate report confirmed.

Many of the protesters reveled in the freedom to demonstrate more openly than at recent climate talks held in more authoritarian countries, including Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. Thousands of people joined in a procession that sprawled across most of the march's route.

Youth leader Ana Heloisa Alves, 27, said it was the biggest climate march she has been part of. "This is incredible," she said. "You can't ignore all these people."

Alves was at the march to fight for the Tapajos River, which the Brazilian government wants to develop commercially. "The river is for the people," her group's signs read.

Pablo Neri, coordinator in the Brazilian state of Para for the Movimento dos Trabajadores Rurais Sem Terra, an organization for rural workers, said organizers of the talks should involve more people to reflect a climate movement that is shifting toward popular participation.

United States skips talks after Trump calls climate change a scam

The United States, where President Trump has ridiculed climate change as a scam, is skipping the talks. This is the second time the Trump administration has withdrawn from the 10-year-old Paris Agreement, which is being celebrated as a partial achievement here in Belem.

President Trump's actions damage the fight against climate change, former U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Todd Stern said.

"It's a good thing that they are not sending anyone. It wasn't going to be constructive if they did," he said.

Two U.S. governors, California's Gavin Newsom and New Mexico's Michelle Lujan Grisham, were in Brazil to attend the summit, representing state-level U.S. efforts to curb emissions. Newsom, a Democrat, criticized the Trump administration's decision not to attend, saying earlier in the week that Brazil is a country the U.S. "should be engaging with, not slapping with 50% tariffs."

One demonstrator, Flavio Pinto, from Para state, took aim at the U.S. Wearing a brown suit and an oversized American flag top hat, he shifted his weight back and forth on stilts and fanned himself with fake hundred-dollar bills with Trump's face on them. "Imperialism produces wars and environmental crises," his sign read.

Vitoria Balbina, a regional coordinator for the Interstate Movement of Coconut Breakers of Babaçu, marched with a group of mostly women wearing domed hats made with fronds of the Babaçu palm. They were calling for more access to the trees on private property that provide not only their livelihoods but also a deep cultural significance. She said marching is not only about fighting and resistance on a climate and environment front, but also about "a way of life."

The marchers formed a sea of red, white and green flags as they progressed up a hill. A crowd of onlookers gathered outside a corner supermarket to watch them approach, leaning over a railing and taking cellphone photos. "Beautiful," said a man passing by, carrying grocery bags.

The climate talks are scheduled to run through Friday. Analysts and some participants have said they don't expect any major new agreements to emerge from the talks, but are hoping for progress on some past promises, including money to help poor countries adapt to climate change.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY THREE – FROM INFOAMAZONIA

By Gabi Coelho 21 November 2025 at 8:00 

In Belém, public hearings symbolically tried 21 cases of socio-environmental violations. Experts warn: greenwashing has become more sophisticated and turned into a disinformation strategy.

At the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, governments are advocating for climate targets and companies are promoting carbon neutrality plans. Meanwhile, pressure is growing from social movements, researchers, and media professionals to expose a phenomenon that defines the environmental policy of the decade: the rise of false climate solutions.

The term describes initiatives presented as sustainable — waterways, mega-energy projects, carbon markets — that, in practice, expand the frontier of exploitation and leave a trail of socio-environmental violations.

According to experts interviewed by InfoAmazonia, the greenwashing — a deceptive marketing strategy in which companies promote an environmentally responsible image —, which was previously limited to the corporate environment, has become a disinformation engine used to influence political decisions, delegitimize impacted communities, and neutralize criticism of predatory enterprises.

Court against ecogenocide

An arena was set up to expose what was left out of the official negotiations: on the 13th and 14th of this month, the People’s Court against Ecogenocide held public hearings to symbolically judge 21 cases of socio-environmental violations in the Amazon and other territories.

According to the court’s presentation document, produced by the Grassroots Climate Organizations Movement (also known as the People’s COP), the aim was “to create an alternative space for justice in the face of the crisis of legality that justice systems and governments promote by protecting and legitimizing practices and groups that destroy ecosystems, ways of life, and spiritualities.”

In the symbolic defendants’ dock were projects and companies presented as sustainable that, in practice, displace communities, destroy territories, and perpetuate predatory models. These are the so-called “false climate solutions” — initiatives sold as responses to the environmental emergency that, according to experts, serve as a smokescreen for maintaining the extraction of natural resources and the destruction of the forest.

Among the cases tried (was) the commercialization of carbon credits in Portel, in the Marajó archipelago. In that territory, according to the dossier, “representatives of carbon companies acted in bad faith and used coercion to secure abusive contracts,” while “the sale of carbon credits by these companies moved millions of dollars without the knowledge of the local people.”

The Belo Monte Hydroelectric Power Plant was another case framed as a false climate solution. The document describes that “Norte Energia, responsible for the Belo Monte HPP, failed to meet legal demands and agreements, even with the commitment to do so in its Basic Environmental Plan.”

The case involves 40,000 people forcibly displaced in the Middle Xingu River region, in Altamira (PA). According to the report, “those who were relocated to new neighborhoods suffered a new form of segregation, with the loss of their way of life due to the disruption of kinship and neighborhood networks and the loss of traditional economic activities.”

According to Thaís Brianezi, a professor at the School of Communication and Arts at the University of São Paulo (ECA/USP) and a member of the Educom&Clima Project, during COP30 “Brazil presents itself as a country with very good energy generation, because about 70% is renewable.” However, when looking at Belo Monte, “the generation of greenhouse gases from the flooding, that is, the flooded area, and the decomposition of organic material are often not included in the calculation.” This is without even considering the social aspect, she emphasizes.

Often, the generation of greenhouse gases from flooding, that is, from the flooded area, and from the decomposition of organic material is not taken into account in the calculations.

Thaís Brianezi, a professor at the School of Communication and Arts at the University of São Paulo (ECA/USP) and a member of the Educom&Clima Project.

Green infrastructure for commodities

The Court also judged cases of waterways presented as necessary in the face of climate emergencies, but which mainly serve the outflow of commodities. Regarding the dredging of the Tapajós River, the document points out that “in the face of the extreme droughts of 2023 and 2024, the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT) determined the dredging of the Tapajós River at ‘critical points’, justifying the work in the name of ‘navigation safety’ and ‘state of emergency’”. According to the dossier, “in ten working days, the State Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainability of Pará (SEMAS/PA) authorized the work without an Environmental Impact Study, without studies on the Indigenous and quilombola communities, and without prior, free and informed consultation.”

The Brazilian financial system was also held responsible. According to the document, “Banco do Brasil, Banco do Nordeste, and Banco da Amazônia granted rural credit to farms embargoed for illegal deforestation, which violates environmental legislation and the regulations of the National Monetary Council.” IBAMA (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) imposed fines, but there was no reparation for the impacts on communities in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes.

False solutions under discussion

Also during the conference, the dossier “Integrity of Climate Information” was launched, prepared by the initiative Mentira Tem Preço (Lies Have a Price) and partners, as part of a global program dedicated to investigating and confronting environmental disinformation. “Lies are business. And business generates profit. Disinformation is not an accident; it’s a business model,” states Thais Lazzeri, founder and director of FALA, a Brazilian impact studio that promotes social change through communication, storytelling, and strategy.

Lying is business. And business generates profit. Misinformation is not an accident; it’s a business model.

Thais Lazzeri, founder and director of FALA.

The guide compiles evidence on information manipulation, greenwashing strategies, and recommendations for governments, journalists, and civil society. Lazzeri emphasizes that defending informational integrity depends on strengthening local journalism: “Community communicators are the first line of defense. They have a legitimacy that no national campaign has. They are the ones who keep the agenda alive once the spotlight moves on.”

This contradiction between the discourse of sustainability and the reality experienced in the territories was the guiding thread of one of the main themes of debate at the People’s Summit — a parallel event that brought together social movements, civil society organizations, and traditional communities during COP30. The theme “Combating environmental racism and false solutions” structured discussions that culminated in the People’s Charter, a document delivered to the COP ambassador on the final Sunday of the event.

The roundtables addressed the defense of territories against land-based racism, the right to prior consultation in the face of the climate market, carbon markets as a false solution, agroecological production as an alternative, and the risks of repeating past mistakes in the so-called energy transition.

Events running parallel to the official program also addressed the topic. The Institute for Defense and Citizenship (IDEC) promoted the workshop “It’s a green lie! How to identify and report greenwashing“ and the pre-launch of the observatory “Keeping an Eye on Greenwashing“ at the NGO House. At the Waldemar Henrique Theater, there was a debate about climate disinformation and how to recognize and combat false narratives in the context of elections and public policies.

The organization Justicia Climática Comunicaciones promoted the meeting “Confronting False Solutions to Climate Change from Latin America and the Caribbean,” which discussed climate justice strategies in Latin America and the Caribbean to highlight, analyze, and denounce false solutions, as well as presenting a map of false climate solutions and initiatives for popular education and communication.

The sophistication of greenwashing

What these events have shown is that the corporate appropriation of the sustainability discourse has become increasingly sophisticated. According to Débora Salles, general coordinator of the Laboratory for Internet and Social Network Studies at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (NetLab UFRJ), the Netlab study “Greenwashing in the Energy Transition: How LinkedIn ads distort the climate debate and legitimize unsustainable practices,” identified evidence of greenwashing in more than half of the ads analyzed — 52.7% of 2,800 advertisements run by 917 companies. According to Salles, the ads used “vague terms, such as ‘energy transition’ and ‘carbon neutral,’ without offering concrete evidence and emptying the meaning of sustainability.”

According to Salles, this practice “manipulates public perception through the dissemination of incomplete and distorted information about socio-environmental practices.” She argues that this practice leads consumers, investors, and policymakers to believe that certain companies are committed to a sustainable transition, “when, in practice, they continue to reproduce models with a high environmental impact.”

Brianezi adds that “disinformation has become more sophisticated; it is no longer necessarily denying the existence of a climate emergency.” According to the researcher, the strategy now is more subtle — as in the case of fossil fuel companies that claim they need to “continue exploring for oil, find new deposits, and exploit resources to make the energy transition.”

Misinformation has become more sophisticated, shifting away from simply denying the climate emergency.

Thaís Brianezi, a professor at the School of Communication and Arts at the University of São Paulo (ECA/USP) and a member of the Educom&Clima Project.

Recently, InfoAmazonia revealed that, since March 2023, members of the Parliamentary Front for Sustainable Mining have been disseminating mining-related campaigns using funds from their offices, while also omitting information from platform users about the environmental impacts.

News deserts

The poor quality of journalistic coverage exacerbates the problem. According to Salles, the study “Local Media Coverage of Large Projects in the Amazon” found that “the local press in the Legal Amazon lacks specialized and in-depth coverage.” Local media outlets “massively reproduce news from government agencies and official sources. This privileges hegemonic views while silencing voices that have already been historically marginalized.”

For Brianezi, local and community-based communication is fundamental because “we need not only to fact-check data, but also to deconstruct narratives and reconstruct other economic possibilities.” According to her, these multiple perspectives come “from the peripheries, from the urban peripheries, from the peripheries of the forest, from the countryside, from the voices that have been historically silenced.”

The USP researcher points out that news deserts “are not just geographical, they are thematic.” She questions: “Why, when there is an extreme weather event affecting higher-income regions, does it get much more coverage in the newspapers than when it affects the outskirts? Because we normalize inequality.” This is, according to Brianezi, “a fundamental issue for combating the climate emergency from the perspective of climate justice.”

When an extreme weather event hits wealthy regions, it dominates the headlines far more than when it affects marginalized communities. That is because we normalize inequality.”

Thaís Brianezi, a professor at the School of Communication and Arts at the University of São Paulo (ECA/USP) and a member of the Educom&Clima Project.

Brianezi argues that combating false narratives requires working “on two fronts: denunciation and proclamation.” Denunciation involves “deconstruction, fact-checking, and questioning narratives.” But simply denouncing is not enough. “We have to make a proclamation showing other forms of economy, of production that are out there, where the economy is a means and the greater good is life, the collective,” she argues, citing the circular economy, the care economy, and the concept of good living. According to her, working only on denunciation does not mobilize: “we also need to work showing that other worlds are possible, so that we don’t believe that the end of the world is easier than the end of capitalism.”

ATTACHMENT THIRTY FOUR – FROM UNITED NATIONS NEWS

COP30 ENTERS ITS FINAL STRETCH: URGENCY, AMBITION, AND VOICES FROM THE STREETS

17 November 2025

The last week of COP30 has begun in Belém with a palpable sense of urgency. Ministers and senior officials are now stepping into the spotlight, as negotiations move from technical wrangling to political decision-making. The stakes? Nothing less than charting a credible path to climate justice in a world running out of time.

UN climate chief Simon Stiell set the tone on Monday:

“There is a deep awareness of what's at stake, and the need to show climate cooperation standing firm in a fractured world.”

His warning was blunt: “There is no time to lose with delays and obstruction.”

For the next two days, ministers will lay out their positions in what is often the most charged phase of the summit. Mr. Stiell urged delegations to tackle the hardest issues now – not in a last-minute scramble.

“There is no time to waste with tactical delays or stonewalling,” he said, and added: “The time for performative diplomacy has now passed.”

The President of the UN General Assembly echoed that urgency, reminding negotiators that despite “headwinds” and the many “ebbs and flows” of climate talks, they “do not have the luxury of wallowing when people are counting on them.”

Annalena Baerbock struck a note of optimism, pointing to unstoppable momentum in renewables and innovation: “The money exists but needs to be redirected.”

She highlighted a stark figure: developing countries paid $1.4 trillion last year in external debt service – funds that could transform climate action if channeled into clean energy and resilience.

Speaking to reporters, Ms. Baerbock recalled that on Sunday she had taken a 30-minute boat ride from Belém to visit Combu Island. 

There, on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, she met with local Indigenous communities “who are showing how sustainable development, economic growth, and protection of the forest can go hand-in-hand.”

This, she said, “underlines again that climate action is not a ‘nice to have’. It’s not a charity. Climate action is in all of our security and economic interests.”

The 30th edition of the annual UN climate summit opened last Monday on 10 November and is set to wrap up this coming Friday.

From words to action: Brazil calls for a new era

Brazil’s Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin declared that COP30 must mark a turning point. “The world must stop debating goals and start fulfilling them,” he declared, adding that this means moving from negotiation to implementation.  

Mr. Alckmin spotlighted the Belém Commitment, an initiative to quadruple the use of sustainable fuels by 2035, already backed by 25 nations. He called for creativity in areas like bioeconomy and decarbonization, reaffirming Brazil’s pledge to “clean energy, innovation, and inclusion.”

Brazilian officials confirmed two major decision packages are now on the table: one tied to frameworks and topics mandated by previous COPs, and the other covering additional issues under negotiation, such as a gender action plan. 

A draft of the first package is expected midweek, but COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago warned the schedule will be tight, with night sessions likely.

Beyond the official halls: People’s Summit delivers its verdict

While ministers debated inside, the streets of Belém pulsed with energy. The People’s Summit, held from 12–16 November, drew more than 25,000 participants – the largest ever – and culminated in a climate justice march of 70,000 people, the biggest demonstration of its kind.

On Sunday, civil society handed over a package of proposals to Mr.do Lago, along with COP30 CEO Ana Toni and key ministers including Marina Silva and Sônia Guajajara.

Maureen Santos, from the Summit’s political committee, told us:

“I think this COP is serving as an example of democracy not only for the United Nations, but also for the world. And this is what multilateralism is: when parties truly engage beyond States, and you see greater visibility for those suffering the impacts of the crisis, who also bring forward the alternatives to confront it.”

Social movements are pressing hard on climate finance, warning of potential “ecological debts,” and demanding a broader vision of just transition – one that includes jobs, food sovereignty, and territorial rights, not just renewable energy.

Solidarity in action: 300,000 meals served

The People’s Summit wasn’t just about speeches. It was about solidarity. Groups like the Landless Workers Movement (MTST) organized a vast “solidarity kitchen,” drawing on experience from last year’s flood response in Rio Grande do Sul.  

Over 300,000 free meals were served, featuring Amazonian staples like jambu, açaí, and pirarucu.

Rudi Rafael, who helped lead the operation, described the scale:

“We had 21 pots of 500 liters each, with a production line preparing meal boxes in just 26 seconds.”

For many, the kitchen symbolized hope, especially for those defending indigenous lands, traditions and cultures. It is a reminder that climate justice is as much about dignity and community as it is about policy.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY FIVE – FROM POLITICO

82 COUNTRIES AT COP30 URGE TO DOUBLE DOWN ON PUSH TO ABANDON FOSSIL FUELS

Governments across Europe, the Pacific islands, Latin America and Africa embraced the call. The United States did not.

By Zack Colman | 11/19/2025 06:32 AM EST

BELÉM, Brazil — Dozens of governments on Tuesday urged countries to agree on a “roadmap” for phasing out coal, oil and natural gas, ratcheting up the stakes for United Nations climate change negotiations that end this week.

The call from 82 countries spanning Europe, the Pacific islands, Latin America and Africa immediately elevated the topic to the top of the COP30 agenda, making it one of the most substantial and likely divisive topics of the two-week negotiations.

One name absent from the list is the United States, the world’s top oil and gas producer, which is skipping the talks entirely.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY SIX – FROM WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM

FINAL WEEK OF COP30 TALKS, AND OTHER CLIMATE AND NATURE NEWS

HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED IN THE FIRST WEEK OF COP30 TALKS.

By Tom Crowfoot Published Nov 18, 2025 · Updated Nov 18, 2025

1. Final week of COP30 talks begins

The final week of the United Nations' (UN) Climate Change Conference, COP30, is underway. The gathering of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is taking place in Belém from 10-21 November, with most signatories represented.

As the last stretch of negotiations begins, here’s a look at what the first week delivered:

A sense of togetherness: The UN's Climate Change Executive Secretary, Simon Stiell, told delegates: "In this arena of COP30, your job here is not to fight one another – your job here is to fight this climate crisis, together."

Defeating climate deniers: "It is time to face reality," warned Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in his opening address, who called on delegates to fight fake news and climate denialism. "COP30 must be the COP of truth. It is time to take the scientific warnings seriously," he warned.

Combatting climate disinformation: Ten countries have endorsed the 'Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change', which commits the signatories to addressing climate disinformation and promoting accurate, evidence-based information on climate issues.

Emphasis on digital tools: The Green Digital Action Hub and AI Climate Institute launched, empowering developing nations with tools and data to design their own climate solutions.

Financing for forests: The Tropical Forest Forever Facility was announced to protect tropical forests, along with pledges supporting Indigenous Peoples, local communities and land rights.

Health in a changing climate: The Belém Health Action Plan received 80 endorsements from 30 countries and 50 partners among civil society and IGOs so far, marking "a milestone in making adaptation of the health sector a priority through a roadmap for countries to build resilient health systems and accelerate global cooperation". So far, $300 million has been pledged to the initiative.

To learn more about the priorities for this final week of talks about COP30, explore some of our other content across Forum Stories below. (See website for links)

What does a successful COP30 look like? 5 climate leaders share their calls to action

Adaptation is moving up the climate agenda. COP30 must get serious about financing it

COP30: How the bioeconomy helps people, planet and profit to exist in harmony

2. Fossil fuel emissions to rise again in 2025

Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels are projected to rise by 1.1% in 2025 – reaching a record high, according to new research by the Global Carbon Project.

Emissions from fossil fuels and cement are forecast to increase to 38.1 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2025, as the chart below shows.

Despite this increase, total emissions from all human activities in 2025 are expected to reach 42.2 billion tonnes of CO2, which is marginally down from the 42.4 billion society produced last year, as changes in renewables and deforestation have helped to bring total emissions down.

3. News in brief: Other top nature and climate stories

Earthshot Prize 2025 winners: Prince William announced the sixth annual winners of his environmental awards, who each receive £1 million to fund their endeavours. Winning projects included forest restoration in Brazil, clean air initiatives in Bogotá, an international ocean treaty, sustainable fashion in Lagos and community climate support in Bangladesh.

European Union backs 2040 climate target: The EU has approved a plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040, with 5% of these cuts potentially coming from abroad via carbon credits. How individual countries will meet the target has not yet been decided, and the bloc has promised strict standards for carbon credits to ensure their effectiveness.

Johan Rockström underscores why CO2 removal is vital: 10 billion tonnes must be captured from the atmosphere each year to avoid crossing catastrophic tipping points, the climate scientist warns. We recently spoke with Rockström, who shared three strategies to help keep global warming within 1.5°C in the video below.

Iran's water crisis: The nation is facing its worst water crisis in decades, with Tehran’s reservoirs at half capacity and officials warning the capital could soon become uninhabitable without rain. With 10% of the country's dams almost dry, citizens are urged to install storage tanks as emergency measures, while officials appeal for rainfall and promise stricter conservation policies.

Puffins make a return: The vulnerable seabirds have returned to the Isle of Muck, just off the coast of Northern Ireland, for the first time in 25 years after a successful project removed invasive brown rats. While puffins remain red-listed and vulnerable, hopes are high that the first chicks will hatch on the island next summer.

4. More on the nature and climate crisis from Forum Stories

Making the green transition work for people and economies: As society moves towards greater sustainability, the shift can be more effective when the needs of people and individual economies are taken into account, according to a new report published by the World Economic Forum and McKinsey & Company. Making the Green Transition Work for People and the Economy, outlines strategies to address these changing needs amid geopolitical disruption, persistent inflation and inequality. Read more about it in this article, or by watching the video below.

Lessons in sustainable agriculture: Can farming be productive and profitable, but without damaging nature and adding to greenhouse gases? This Brazilian entrepreneur, interviewed for Radio Davos, says so. In an episode co-hosted with the Forum's Tropical Forest Alliance, learn what lessons agricultural activity in the Amazon has for the rest of the world.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY SEVEN – FROM REUTERS

COP30 PRESIDENCY DRAWS UP EARLY DRAFT OF DEAL TEXT

By Lisandra Paraguassu November 18, 20258:05 AM EST

BELEM, Brazil, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Brazil's COP30 presidency has drawn up a draft of a possible deal.

The document, seen by Reuters, contained a line urging all parties to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.

Another section set out a range of wording options, one of which called for a process to help countries overcome their dependency on fossil fuels.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY EIGHT – FROM REUTERS

BRAZIL PUSHES FOR EARLY COP30 CLIMATE DEAL ON FOSSIL FUELS AND FINANCE

By Kate Abnett, Lisandra Paraguassu and Sudarshan Varadhan

November 18, 20251:16 PM EST

Brazil proposes two-stage deal to expedite COP30 negotiations

· Disagreements persist on finance and emissions cuts

· Group of countries call for roadmap to ditch fossil fuels

· Draft text shows unresolved disagreements among negotiators

BELEM, Brazil, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Brazil is hoping to land an early agreement on some of the most contentious issues at the COP30 climate summit after unveiling a bold negotiation strategy that had delegates working into the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The two-week summit in the Amazon city of Belem has brought together governments from across the world to strengthen the complex U.N. framework underpinning global action to halt rising greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the damage caused by warming temperatures.

Host nation Brazil wants a deal agreed in two stages: one package on Wednesday, including subjects like phasing out fossil fuels and delivering promised climate finance that were a week ago deemed too thorny to even include on the formal agenda, and another wrapping up any outstanding issues by Friday.

"I think it's a daring move. It could work, although it's also a risk because why would parties move if they know there still is time," said one European negotiator.

At the outset of COP30, it was unclear whether there would be an attempt to negotiate a final agreement for the end of the summit.

On Tuesday, the COP30 presidency, invoking the Brazilian Portuguese concept of "mutirão" - a spirit of collective effort - released a first draft of a possible summit deal titled "Global Mutirão: uniting humanity in a global mobilization against climate change".

GUTERRES RETURNS TO MEET LULA

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres returned to Belem on Tuesday and will meet Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Wednesday.

Lula said the meeting was designed to "strengthen climate governance and multilateralism."

The toughest topics include pinning down how rich countries will provide finance to poorer countries to switch to clean energy, and what must be done about a gap between promised emissions cuts and those needed to stop temperatures rising.

Confounding expectations set by recent COP summits - all of which have run way past their scheduled end - Brazil's COP30 president Andre Correa do Lago said late on Monday he had the support of attendees to push hard for an early outcome.

Talks ran past midnight and were scheduled to run late again on Tuesday.

Some nations, including Brazil, want a roadmap to help countries implement an agreement reached at COP28 in 2023 to phase out the use of fossil fuels, though the draft deal only listed this as an optional inclusion.

00:25How a Hungarian company aims to replace road stone with trashSkip Ad

The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboard

"The current reference in the text is weak and it's presented as an option. It must be strengthened and it must be adopted," said Tina Stege, Climate Envoy for the Marshall Islands, at a press conference alongside representatives from more than a dozen supportive countries.

DIFFERENCES REMAIN UNBRIDGED

Two negotiators and two third-party observers, who are permitted to sit in on the talks, separately described to Reuters a broad range of disagreements that were yet to be resolved.

Issues like the provision of finance have long pitted developed countries, many of which are juggling tight public finances and competing domestic priorities including security, against the most vulnerable nations, like small island states under existential threat from rising seas.

Some of these differences were captured in the draft text published by the COP30 presidency, which presented a wide range of options for the final wording on the key issues - including no agreed text at all in some areas.

That left no clear picture of where a final deal would land.

"The proposed texts released today show some progress but largely miss the mark for the level of ambition that this COP requires," said Rachel Cleetus, senior policy director for the Climate and Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

ATTACHMENT THIRTY NINE – FROM REUTERS

BRAZIL'S LULA MAKES DIPLOMATIC PUSH FOR EARLY CLIMATE DEAL AT COP30 SUMMIT

By Kate Abnett and Lisandra Paraguassu November 19, 20253:14 PM ESTUpdated 2 hours ago

BELEM, Brazil, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Brazil's president was meeting with key negotiators at the COP30 summit on Wednesday as part of a drive to land an early deal on some of the most divisive issues in the global climate talks, including fossil fuels and climate finance.

The two-week U.N. summit in the Amazon city of Belem has brought nearly 200 countries together to try to ratchet up multilateral action to limit climate change, despite the absence of the U.S., the top historic greenhouse gas emitter.

But rifts on key issues remain, posing a fresh test of the international will to slow global warming.

Host Brazil, hoping to buck the trend in which recent climate summits ran well past deadline, seeks to endorse a package of agreements later on Wednesday, and the outstanding issues on Friday. But it is already facing delays publishing new negotiating texts.

FRESH DRAFT EXPECTED ON WEDNESDAY

The COP30 presidency had planned to land a fresh draft of the initial deal early on Wednesday, but no announcements had been issued by early afternoon. Negotiators told Reuters tough talks were ongoing.

The first version of the deal published on Tuesday had presented a range of options that split opinion.

Brazil and around 80 other supportive nations want to agree something that helps spur action on a 2023 agreement made at COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels, the main source of greenhouse gas emissions.

However, the idea of creating a roadmap to help guide that transition had so far been rejected by others, Brazil's COP30 President Andre Correa do Lago said on Tuesday.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrived back at the conference on Wednesday, giving renewed political impetus to the talks. He was expected to meet key negotiators as well as U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

'WE'VE GOT BLOCKERS,' VANUATU SAYS

Pacific island nation Vanuatu's climate minister Ralph Regenvanu told Reuters Saudi Arabia was one of those opposed to the fossil fuel plan.

Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

But a Hungarian company says it has found a way to turn it into road-ready concrete, replacing much of the stone normally used in the mix.

"I think it's going to be very difficult ... because we've got blockers," Regenvanu said.

Other island nations said the issue was vital.

"We're going to have to fight tooth and nail. There are many parties who have already said that they do not want that in the text at all," Marshall Islands climate envoy Tina Stege told Reuters.

A coalition of 100 organisations, including companies like Volvo and Unilever, sent a letter to the COP30 presidency expressing support for a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuel use, saying it would help countries and businesses plan the shift to cleaner energy.

CLIMATE FINANCE

Other contentious issues in the package include pinning down how rich countries will provide finance to poorer countries to switch to clean energy, and what must be done about a gap between promised emissions cuts and those needed to stop temperatures rising.

Poorer countries already bearing the impacts of global warming are rallying for a strong outcome.

"We want ambition on finance. We want ambition on adaptation. We want to see ambition on the transition," Jiwoh Abdulai, Sierra Leone's climate minister, told Reuters. "And we want to ensure that we live here on a path that is sustainable, not just for this generation, but for future generations."

Plans to launch a U.N.-backed global market for trading carbon offset credits have hit a snag as governments dispute over the funding to get the market up and running, five sources told Reuters.

ATTACHMENT FORTY – FROM WRAL NEWS (RALEIGH, NC)

GUTERRES AND LULA PUSH NEGOTIATORS AT COP30 AS DEADLINE LOOMS

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are jumping into the United Nations climate talks as they get to crunch time. Their goal is to find compromises before a self-imposed deadline on Wednesday. Experts say their joint presence signals

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — Two global power players pushed negotiators on Wednesday to find compromises at United Nations climate talks in Brazil’s Belém, where a self-imposed deadline is rushing up fast.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrived at the COP30 talks to take a hand, in what some attendees hoped could signal progress by day's end. Lula's tentative schedule included meetings with negotiators for the European Union, emerging nations in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia, and hard-hit small island nations and African countries.

Raising the possibility of a historic outcome, Greenpeace Brazil Executive Director Carolina Pasquali said: “The COP is nearing the endgame and the joint arrival of both Lula and Guterres gives a clear political signal that they mean business."

Still, it's routine for negotiators at these talks to miss deadlines.

EXCLUDED ISSUES EXPECTED TO BE DISCUSSED

Even though the talks are scheduled to go until at least Friday, COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago gave negotiators a Wednesday deadline for a decision on four interconnected issues that were initially excluded from the official agenda: whether countries should be told to toughen their new climate plans; details on handing out $300 billion in pledged climate aid; dealing with trade barriers over climate and improving reporting on transparency and climate progress.

Scores of countries, rich and poor, are also pushing for a detailed road map on how to phase out fossil fuels. And that's key to toughening new climate plans for a shot at limiting future warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), the global goal set in 2015's Paris Agreement.

In 2023, after days of contentious debate, climate talks agreed to language calling for a transition away from fossil fuels — coal, oil and natural gas. But little has been done since to clarify or amplify on that one sentence. Protesters inside and outside the conference venue kept pushing for a phaseout.

A group of scientists Wednesday criticized current proposals for a fossil fuel phaseout road map as inadequate, particularly to reach the goal of zero fossil fuel emissions by 2045 at the latest.

“A road map is not a workshop or a ministerial meeting. A road map is a real workplan that needs to show us the way from where we are to where we need to be, and how to get there,” said a letter from seven prominent scientists, including some who are advising the COP30 presidency.

LULA AND FOSSIL FUELS

Lula, in talking to leaders earlier in Belem, boosted the efforts of clarifying how to wean the world from the fuels that emit heat-trapping gases, the chief cause of climate change.

The Brazilian president has also been pushing for more participation in a new multibillion international fund financed by interest-bearing debt instead of donations, called the Tropical Forests Forever Facility. It seeks to make it more lucrative for governments to keep their trees rather than cut them down.

Iskander Erzini Vernoit, director of the IMAL Initiative for Climate and Development, an independent think-tank based in Morocco, said it won't be easy for Guterres and Lula to find common ground among negotiators.

“Various apparent impasses still remain, and chief among these from an African point of view is the unwillingness of the EU and other rich countries to engage on their obligation to provide climate finance," Erzini Vernoit said.

IMPLEMENTATION IS KEY TO CUT GLOBAL WARMING

Going into this two-week conference, Brazilian leaders emphasized the importance of focusing on implementation, starting action on agreements, targets and pledges already made, over new deals.

If nations met the goals set at past climate talks of tripling renewables, doubling energy efficiency and cutting methane by 2030, the rate of global warming could be cut by a third within a decade and a half by 2040, according to a new report by Climate Analytics.

Neil Grant, a climate policy analysis expert and lead author of the report, said this could rescue the goal set a decade ago in the Paris Agreement.

While climate leaders have conceded that the world is on track to overshoot this climate goal, Grant said: “We have the tools to transition away from fossil fuels. Although the hour is dark, we still have agency.”

LOTS OF ACTION PLANS

High-level “climate champions” met Wednesday to celebrate the creation or acceleration of more than 110 climate action plans on agreements and goals from past conferences.

These may not get the big headlines, but it's what makes all these efforts work in the real world, said Dan Ioschpe, the COP30 climate champion, who acts as a liaison between governments and civil society at the talks.

“We need to make sure that we reach the targets of the agreement, of the Paris Agreement. And for that we need to implement technologies, solutions, processes,” Ioschpe told The Associated Press, mentioning aviation, maritime and agriculture as key industries to target.

Among the new efforts launched at COP30 is to get an agreement by businesses and governments to spend $1 trillion to improve the world's electricity grid and renewable energy storage and quadruple biofuels, Ioschpe said.

· Guterres and Lula to push negotiators at COP30 as deadline looms

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — Two global power players pushed negotiators on Wednesday to find compromises at United Nations climate talks in Brazil’s Belém, where a self-imposed deadline is rushing up fast.

As nations push for more ambition at climate talks, chairman says they may get it

At the halfway point of annual United Nations climate negotiations in Brazil, it appears the talks may do more than just focus on implementing past promises, as some observers had expected. Several nations have pressed during the first week to be more ambitious. They want stronger commitments on ...

ATTACHMENT FORTY ONE – FROM POLITICO

82 COUNTRIES AT COP30 URGE TO DOUBLE DOWN ON PUSH TO ABANDON FOSSIL FUELS

Governments across Europe, the Pacific islands, Latin America and Africa embraced the call. The United States did not.

By Zack Colman | 11/19/2025 06:32 AM EST

BELÉM, Brazil — Dozens of governments on Tuesday urged countries to agree on a “roadmap” for phasing out coal, oil and natural gas, ratcheting up the stakes for United Nations climate change negotiations that end this week.

The call from 82 countries spanning Europe, the Pacific islands, Latin America and Africa immediately elevated the topic to the top of the COP30 agenda, making it one of the most substantial and likely divisive topics of the two-week negotiations.

One name absent from the list is the United States, the world’s top oil and gas producer, which is skipping the talks entirely.

ATTACHMENT FORTY TWO – FROM EXPRESS.CO.UK

HORROR FIRE SPARKS PANIC AT COP30 AS PANICKED ATTENDEES 'RUN FOR EXITS' IN FRENZIED SCENES

Smoke engulfed one of the pavilion's corridors as panicked attendees rushed to the exits.

By Alice Scarsi, Publishing Lead, and Toby Codd 17:31, Thu, Nov 20, 2025 Updated: 19:47, Thu, Nov 20, 2025

A huge fire erupting during COP30 in Brazil sparked scene of panic on Thursday. Delegates were seen running for the exits after the blaze broke out in the pavilion area of a venue where UN climate talks are taking place.

UN and security crews rushed to the area to try and put out the fire, as the building was being evacuated. Firefighters also rushed to the scene to quash the flames, with social media footage showing the fire rising from the venue and smoke engulfing one of the corridors. The efforts may be aided by rain starting to fall after the blaze erupted.

Read more: Watch 'armed protestors' invade COP30 summit

Read more: Prince William delivers keynote speech at COP30 and pays special tribute to King

The blaze occurred as ministers from around the world are locked in talks aimed at finding an agreement on fossil fuels, climate finance and trade measures.

Among the politicians there is Swedish MEP Jessica Polfjärd, who in the midst of the emergency took to X to write: "There is a fire at COP30. We are safe and have been evacuated."

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear. In the midst of the incident, power was cut to the building as a matter of precaution.

Climate journalist Tais Gadea Lara, who said to be attending COP30, claimed five people were being treated for smoke inhalation.