{"id":127740,"date":"2025-11-10T11:08:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T11:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/127740\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T11:08:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T11:08:07","slug":"monday-briefing-what-to-expect-from-cop30-as-the-crucial-climate-conference-kicks-off-in-brazil-cop30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/127740\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday briefing: What to expect from Cop30 as the crucial climate conference kicks off in Brazil | Cop30"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. I was warned when I agreed to sit in on First Edition that sometimes your early Monday morning could get derailed by a big breaking news story. So imagine my face yesterday when it happened on my very first weekend, as the BBC\u2019s director general, Tim Davie, and the head of BBC News, Deborah Turness, both resigned<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The decisions come in the wake of Donald Trump\u2019s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, describing the BBC as \u201c100% fake news\u201d over the way a speech by the US president was edited. A week of hostile rightwing media headlines \u2013 very clearly set out by Jamie Grierson in this piece<\/a> \u2013 seems to have taken its toll at the top of the corporation. Culture secretary Lisa Nandy\u2019s judgement will also no doubt be in the spotlight, having said, prior to his resignation, that she \u201cretained confidence\u201d in how Davie was handling the situation. Davie himself clearly didn\u2019t agree.<\/p>\n

The fallout from his resignation will grip the news cycle in the UK over the next 48 hours \u2013 but is that really the most important story in the world? In 2019 the Guardian made our environmental pledge<\/a>, declaring \u201cthe escalating climate crisis is the defining issue of our lifetimes and the planet is in the grip of an emergency\u201d.<\/p>\n

Today is the formal opening of proceedings for the Cop30<\/a> conference in Bel\u00e9m. Ahead of those sessions in Brazil I spoke to Natalie Hanman, the Guardian\u2019s head of environment. This newsletter is about her expectations from Cop30, the in-depth coverage that the Guardian has planned and how it feels to be running the coverage in a world where the climate crisis continues unabated \u2013 regardless of political shenanigans about the BBC, which we will no doubt return to here in the near future. But first, this morning\u2019s headlines.<\/p>\n

Five big stories<\/p>\n

UK news | Tim Davie, the BBC\u2019s director general, and Deborah Turness, head of BBC News have resigned<\/a> after a former adviser to the corporation accused it of \u201cserious and systemic\u201d bias in its coverage of issues including Donald Trump, Gaza and trans rights.<\/p>\n

Remembrance day | Veterans of the second world war were applauded<\/a> as they arrived at the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall to honour those who have died in conflict.<\/p>\n

US news | More than 2,500 flights were cancelled<\/a> as US transportation secretary Sean Duffy said flight reductions could reach 20% if the federal government shutdown persisted.<\/p>\n

The Philippines | More than a million people were evacuated from their homes in the Philippines and at least two people were killed as Typhoon Fung-wong \u2013 the second big storm to hit<\/a> in the space of a few days \u2013 made landfall on the east coast.<\/p>\n

Business news | The Barclay family is set to lose control<\/a> of another part of their former business empire with a US private equity firm taking control of online retailer the Very Group.<\/p>\n

In depth: \u2018We have all the technology and money we need. The problem is the politics\u2019A man sits in a polluted river in Belem, Brazil. Photograph: Fernando Llano\/AP<\/p>\n

Last week UN secretary general Ant\u00f3nio Guterres lambasted the world at the opening of Cop30 by describing the failure to limit global heating to 1.5C as a \u201cmoral failure and deadly negligence\u201d. With the glad-handing of the world leaders over, the serious work begins today as the conference opens properly.<\/p>\n

It comes at a time when climate action policies are under serious threat. A fossil-fuelled Trump administration is urging \u201cDrill baby, drill!\u201d and the party currently leading opinion polls in Britain \u2013 Reform UK \u2013 has set out a policy platform against renewable energy and net zero targets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe climate crisis is a slow-motion disaster,\u201d Natalie said, \u201cbut the news agenda thrives on quick, new, fast, ever-changing stories. We think Cop provides us with a key moment every year to pull people\u2019s attention back to what we think is the biggest and most urgent crisis facing humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the 1992 United Nations<\/a> Framework Convention on Climate Change, every country on Earth is treaty-bound to \u201cavoid dangerous climate change\u201d and find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally in an equitable way.<\/p>\n

Cop stands for \u201cconference of the parties\u201d under the UNFCCC. \u201cIt is the only time that all the countries in the world \u2013 with very few exceptions \u2013 have to come together and face each other and listen to each other,\u201d Natalie said.<\/p>\n

Experts say that 2023, 2024 and 2025 were the three hottest years in 176 years of records, with the 1.5C Paris agreement target now \u201cvirtually impossible\u201d to achieve, meanwhile nonviolent climate protesters face jail sentences, research shows climate disasters in the US during the first half of 2025 were the costliest ever on record, and analysis suggests recently drafted climate plans from scores of countries fall drastically short of what is needed.<\/p>\n

What are the positive signs going into Cop30?<\/p>\n

If that all sounds bleak, at least Fiona Harvey, who is in Bel\u00e9m, reported findings that there <\/a>is<\/a> still a chance<\/a> for the world to avoid the worst ravages of climate breakdown and return to the goal of 1.5C if action is stepped up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know exactly what we need to do to address the climate crisis. We already have all the technology and all the money that we need. The problem is the politics and the power, which isn\u2019t addressing these issues in an equitable way, or moving anywhere near fast enough,\u201d Natalie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see again and again in polling, and in our reporting, that the majority of people across the world still say they want action on the climate crisis. People are our hope here.\u201d<\/p>\n

How will the Guardian be covering the conference?<\/p>\n

Indigenous leaders, forest defenders, artists and scientists board the Suma\u00fama boat to Cop30 after a traditional inauguration ceremony on the shore of the Amazon river. Photograph: Handout<\/p>\n

The Guardian will be providing comprehensive coverage of the conference, with a significant team out in Brazil. Fiona is a veteran, closing in on her 20th Cop, and yesterday we had this piece from her, asking amid the squabbles, the bombast and the competing interests, what can Cop30 achieve<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Jonathan Watts, our global environment writer, lives in the Brazilian rainforest. He traveled to Bel\u00e9m up the Amazon river in a flotilla carrying Indigenous groups and forest defenders, which he wrote about last week<\/a>. Oliver Milman, Dharna Noor, Damian Carrington and Damien Gayle will also be there.<\/p>\n

As well as the people on the ground, Natalie said there will be \u201ca global team supporting them around the clock \u2013 a daily live blog, the podcast, newsletters, helpful explainers, deep dives and hopefully some scoops.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cop will also see the Guardian run another series of This is climate breakdown<\/a>. It profiles people who\u2019ve been personally affected by extreme weather events which the climate crisis has contributed to, with, Natalie says, \u201csome incredibly moving stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

And lastly, the Guardian\u2019s free environment newsletter, Down to Earth, will also be sent at an increased frequency during the conference, with exclusive insight from reporters on the ground. You can sign up to that here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Why have we invested so heavily in our coverage?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do invest heavily in our Cop coverage, but we also invest heavily in our environment coverage every day throughout the year. We can use this moment to tell those wider stories about what\u2019s happening to people and the natural world here and now,\u201d Natalie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t just some sort of theoretical discussion in a conference room at a UN Climate Summit. We\u2019ve just had Hurricane Melissa<\/a>. It\u2019s about trying to make those links for people.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re there because we want to know what\u2019s going on behind the scenes. We want to know the extent of the lobbying against meaningful action.\u201d<\/p>\n

How has covering Cop changed over time?<\/p>\n

A clipping from the Guardian\u2019s 1972 coverage of UN environment discussions Photograph: The Guardian<\/p>\n

The Guardian has been covering the UN\u2019s discussions on the environment since the 1970s (pictured above), when our correspondent Malcolm Stuart attended the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm. The outcome of that was the Stockholm Declaration and Action Plan for the Human Environment.<\/p>\n

Among its 26 principles was a declaration that \u201cThe natural resources of the earth \u2026 must be safeguarded for the benefit of present and future generations\u201d, words that surely must ring hollow for the current generation of young people who face growing up in a more hostile climate.<\/p>\n

Over the last five years, Natalie said, the team have tried to shift the reporting away from simply narrating the outcome of the summit, and instead \u201creally engage critically with the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo reveal, as we did on Friday, that there have been more than 5,000 fossil fuel lobbyists<\/a> at the climate summits over the past four years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat comes at a time of a massive rise in catastrophic, extreme weather, inadequate climate action and record oil and gas expansion. We want to keep an eye on the actions of governments, in particular the petrostates, who often are blocking progress and highlight the voices and experiences of those, often from the global south, who are pushing hard for action.\u201d<\/p>\n

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What would be a good outcome?<\/p>\n

It was a tragedy, Natalie said, that we are going into Cop30 \u201cand we\u2019re not in a better place, and that so little actually has changed since Cop29 last year in Baku.\u201d<\/p>\n

Natalie said that a proposed deal on the protection of forests was one potential outcome that could have a hugely positive effect, provided there was money to support that. Good outcomes would also be to see more climate finance assistance from richer to poorer countries, an agreement to rapidly wind down fossil fuel production, and a \u201cserious and permanent embedding of Indigenous voices and perspectives in every stage of the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think we probably have to approach it with high hopes, low expectations and rigorous scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

What else we\u2019ve been readingZelenskyy described his relations with Trump as \u2018normal\u2019, \u2018businesslike\u2019 and \u2018constructive\u2019. Photograph: Julia Kochetova\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u200bIn this exclusive interview<\/a> with the Guardian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said \u201ceveryone in the world\u201d was afraid of Trump, but not him. \u201cWe are not enemies with America. We are friends. So why should we be afraid?\u201d Katy Vans, newsletters team<\/p>\n

I am endlessly fascinated by Taylor Swift\u2019s career as a cultural artefact, as is author Maggie Nelson. In this interview<\/a> she talks about her recent work comparing Swift with the melancholic poetic poise of Sylvia Plath. Martin<\/p>\n

Winter is coming and in a bid to feel better about it, I read this piece<\/a> on what health habits Europeans embrace. The Swiss recommend eating five times a day and who am I to argue? Katy<\/p>\n

\u201cThe German sperm donor influencer\u201d was not, I\u2019ll admit, on my list of sentences I ever expected to read, but Robyn Vinter has a very interesting look<\/a> at the hidden world of social media sperm selling. Martin<\/p>\n

This story<\/a> of another youth centre closure in England brings home the real costs to the local community about the lack of investment in young people\u2019s futures. Katy<\/p>\n

SportJeremy Doku enjoys scoring the third goal for Manchester City with Nico O\u2019Reilly. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Football | Manchester City find themselves just four points behind Arsenal after a 3-0 win<\/a> at home to Liverpool. Newcastle meanwhile are struggling with their away form after losing 3-1 to Brentford while Aston Villa ran up a 4-0 victory that lifts them above losing side Bournemouth in the table.<\/p>\n

Formula One | Lando Norris won the S\u00e3o Paulo Grand Prix<\/a>, managing a high-pressure victory from pole position to extend his world championship lead over his McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri.<\/p>\n

Tennis | Carlos Alcaraz opened the ATP\u2019s season-ending championships, and the battle for the year-end No 1 ranking, in ideal fashion<\/a> as he confidently navigated a turbulent opening set before easing to a 7-6 (5), 6-2 win over the seventh seed, Alex de Minaur, in Turin.<\/p>\n

The front pages<\/p>\n

The Guardian leads with \u201cBBC director general Tim Davie steps down over Panorama row\u201d. The Times says \u201cBBC boss Davie resigns over allegations of bias\u201d and the Express goes with \u201cBoss quits over BBC doctoring of Trump speech\u201d. \u201cTrump row BBC boss: I quit\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s the Daily Mirror, while the Mail engages maximum castigation protocols: \u201cBBC bosses quit in disgrace\u201d. The Telegraph has \u201cDavie quits BBC over bias scandal\u201d. Top story in the Financial Times is \u201cBBC boss Davie quits amid claims of biased coverage and reporting failures\u201d. The i paper goes for a bit more context with: \u201cBBC bosses quit over botched Trump film \u2013 as enemies gather\u201d. \u201cTears of the crown\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s the Metro on King Charles\u2019s remembrance salute at the Cenotaph.<\/p>\n

Today in Focus Photograph: Donatas Dabravolskas\/Alamy<\/p>\n

Cop ahoy! Sailing the Amazon to the climate summit<\/p>\n

Jonathan Watts sets off on a three-day boat trip down the Amazon<\/a> \u2013 with indigenous leaders, scientists, artists and more \u2013 to report on Cop30.<\/p>\n

Cartoon of the day | Edith Pritchett Illustration: Edith Pritchett\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Sign up for Inside Saturday<\/a> to see more of Edith Pritchett\u2019s cartoons, the best Saturday magazine content and an exclusive look behind the scenes<\/p>\n

The Upside<\/p>\n

A bit of good news to remind you that the world\u2019s not all bad<\/p>\n

\u2018I didn\u2019t start out as some crazy endurance athlete and I really think of myself as a normal person.\u2019 Photograph: Joseph Scheller Photography at The Montana Standard<\/p>\n

Jessica Guo, a 30-year-old former consultant from Seattle, became the first woman<\/a> to complete a continuous hike of the Continental Divide Trail and Great Divide Trail in one year \u2013 a 3,541 mile journey from New Mexico to Canada.<\/p>\n

She faced extreme conditions \u2013 snow, mud, rocky ridges, wildlife encounters, and vast elevation gains equivalent to climbing Mount Everest 20 times. She documented the trek through short narrated videos shared online, earning nearly 50,000 Instagram followers.<\/p>\n

Guo not only found healing and purpose on the trails but she also highlighted climate change\u2019s visible effects and the need to protect wilderness areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s something out there that calls to you, I hope you listen,\u201d she said. \u201cGive yourself permission to do the thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up here<\/a> for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday<\/p>\n

Bored at work?<\/p>\n

And finally, the Guardian\u2019s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good morning. I was warned when I agreed to sit in on First Edition that sometimes your early…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[273,111,139,69,147],"class_list":{"0":"post-127740","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}