Briefs · Frontier Science
Brasília warmed up, Belém waits
COP30 does not start in Belém. It starts in Brasília, a month early, with the arguments that will decide it.
On 13 and 14 October, Brasília hosted the Pre-COP, the ministerial preparatory meeting for the climate conference in Belém, 10–21 November. Around 65 delegations from UNFCCC member countries were invited, and more than 600 participants were expected, including delegates and observers, at the Brasil International Convention Center.
The opening was attended by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, Environment Minister Marina Silva, Indigenous Peoples Minister Sonia Guajajara and Finance Minister Fernando Haddad. The Brazilian presidency’s three aims were plain: strengthen multilateralism, connect the climate regime to people’s real lives, and accelerate implementation of the Paris Agreement.
The Pre-COP is not part of the official UNFCCC calendar, but rather the rehearsal where consensus is built — or not. After it, the mood was cautiously positive: agreement on implementation, and a gap, still, on finance.
Conclusion: the Pre-COP is not the conference, but rather its prelude — a pre-COP, a promise, and a month to keep it.
Summary in our own words. The original belongs to its publisher.