AMAZON CITY
Lula has positioned himself as a global flag-bearer for the environment, and since taking office, deforestation in the Amazon has fallen sharply.
But he also wants to expand Brazil’s oil exploration, complicating its image as COP30 host.
The world’s largest tropical rainforest is critical in the fight against climate change, but increasingly suffers its effects, with fires and droughts growing more severe each year.
Hosting the massive global event in the Amazon for the first time has presented Brazil with several challenges.
The city of Belem, where some 60,000 participants are expected, is scrambling to provide enough infrastructure and hotel rooms for guests.
Record public investment is restoring monuments, transforming the abandoned port warehouses into leisure zones, and dredging the river bay to anchor two cruise ships, which will expand lodging options alongside two new hotels.
At the negotiating table, Brazil is tasked with boosting climate aid to help developing countries reduce emissions and prepare for the dangerous impacts of a warming world – a goal not met at the 2024 meeting in Azerbaijan.
