![\"Damian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763664910_890_Damian-Carrington,-R.png\")
Damian Carrington<\/p>\n‘That is a death sentence for many’: UN secretary-general on climate action plansDamian Carrington<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much more must we suffer?\u201d asked Ant\u00f3nio Guterres at Cop30<\/a>. He said frontline communities bearing the brunt of the climate crisis had heard enough excuses and were demanding results.<\/p>\n The UN secretary-general is in Bel\u00e9m to urge the world\u2019s nations to find compromises in the final hours of Cop30 and deliver a deal to accelerate climate action: \u201cWe are down to the wire and the world is watching.\u201d<\/p>\n The stakes could not be higher. He said the emissions cuts pledged to date by countries \u2013 nationally determined contributions in UN jargon \u2013 would lead to a global temperature rise of more than 2C: \u201cThat is a death sentence for many\u2026 we must move much faster, with a drastic cut in emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n Guterres said that overshooting the 1.5C target is now inevitable: \u201cWe know what that means, more heat and hunger, more disasters and displacement, and the higher risk of crossing climate tipping points and irreversible damage, including here in the Amazon.\u201d<\/p>\n But he said temperatures could be returned to 1.5C by end of the century with action: \u201cI strongly appeal to global nations to show willingness and flexibility to deliver results that protect people and keep 1.5C alive,\u201d<\/p>\n Agreeing a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels is a difficult issue at Cops, despite the burning of coal, oil and gas being the root cause of the climate crisis. That is because petrostates can easily obstruct and delay a process that works by consensus decision making.<\/p>\n But Guterres said: \u201cThe world must pursue a just, orderly and equitable transition away from fossil fuels.\u201d Asked if Cop30 would be a failure without a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels, he was diplomatic, saying this is not the moment to talk about possible failure, but the moment to stop failure happening.<\/p>\n He was notably firm on wanting finance for adaptation tripled \u2013 the current target is a doubling of the money from rich nations to pay to protect people around the world from extreme weather, which is being turbocharged by the climate crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cFor millions, adaptation is not an abstract goal,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is the difference between rebuilding and being swept away, between replanting and starving, between staying on ancestral land or losing it forever.\u2019 He also supported a just transition, to ensure those working in the fossil fuel industry are supported into new livelihoods.<\/p>\n \u201cNone of this can happen without finance that is predictable, accessible and guaranteed,\u201d Guterres said. Climate finance<\/a> \u2013 the provision of money from the rich nations that caused the climate crisis to the poorer nations who are impacted the most \u2013 is the basis of trust between the nations. But rows continue about the delivery of the $1.3tn a year by 2035 pledged at last year\u2019s Cop.<\/p>\n Guterres was asked for his message to Donald Trump, who recently called the climate crisis a \u201ccon job\u201d. \u201cWe are waiting for you,\u201d he said. Asked if he thought Trump and the US would engage positively on climate at some point, he said: \u201cHope is the last thing to die.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n In the wake of the fire, the premises has been returned to local authority and is no longer considered a Blue Zone, according to an update from the UNFCCC.<\/p>\n The fire chief has ordered a full evacuation of the venue, but will provide an update around 4pm local time.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, reactions to the unexpected emergency have continued to roll in.<\/p>\n Mohamed Adow, director of think tank Power Shift Africa said in a statement issued to the Guardian that what could have been a traumatic event was well-handled and speaks to the possibility of collaboration.<\/p>\n \u201cEven in a moment of chaos, one thing stood out: people from every corner of the world, different nations, creeds and affiliations, looked out for one another,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen faced with a crisis, cooperation wasn\u2019t a slogan, but a human instinct in its rawest, truest form.\u201d<\/p>\n He connected the sentiments as an example of how to move through the ongoing negotiations:<\/p>\n \u201cThat spirit is precisely what climate action demands. The climate crisis doesn\u2019t care for our borders or diplomatic dramas. It requires the same urgency, solidarity and shared purpose we saw today, minus the flames, ideally. If we can respond to the planet\u2019s emergencies with the same unity shown in that tense moment, COP30 might yet be remembered not for an incident, but for a turning point.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a> Talks are still on pause but earlier today, my colleague Damian Carrington wrote about how conservative nations – from the Vatican to Iran \u2013 are pushing to narrow the definition of gender at Cop30:<\/p>\n The move is aimed at excluding trans and non-binary people and threatens to increase the difficulty of already tortuous negotiations, AFP reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n The effort uses footnotes in key texts to attach country-specific interpretations. Paraguay, Argentina, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia as well as the Vatican have so far entered footnotes into the draft Gender Action Plan (GAP) meant to guide work for the next decade.<\/p>\n Similar footnotes have also appeared in a text related to the \u201cjust transition\u201d \u2013 the framework to shift to environmentally sustainable economies without leaving workers and communities behind.<\/p>\n The Vatican, for example, says it understands gender as \u201cgrounded on the biological sexual identity that is male and female.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe do not agree at all with what some countries are putting in the agenda footnotes,\u201d Alicia Barcena, Mexico\u2019s secretary of environment, told AFP. \u201cWe feel we are going backwards \u2013 we should never go backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf every Party could footnote core terms like finance, ambition or equity, we would have no negotiation left \u2013 only fragmentation. Gender equality is an agreed principle under this Convention \u2013 it needs no qualification,\u201d said Bridget Burns, executive director of the Women\u2019s Environment and Development Organization.<\/p>\n The issue has become so sensitive that Cop30\u2019s Brazilian presidency has elevated it from technical negotiations to a higher political level, where ministers are now trying to hash out a compromise.<\/p>\n You can read more on the issue in Chloe Farand\u2019s story for the Guardian<\/a>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n After dozens of firefighters battled the Cop30 blaze it has been contained, according to Brazil\u2019s tourism minister, Celso Sabino, speaking to a local news channel.<\/p>\n Forensic teams will try to establish how the fire started but he said he doubts it was criminal.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019d have to be a really awful person to set fire to a Cop,\u201d he tells reporters.<\/p>\n Officials are also reporting that there were no injuries from the fire and that everyone was safely evacuated. The building has taken some damage, however, and it will be several hours before attendees will be allowed back in.<\/p>\n The fire has added even more urgency to deliberations as time ticks down to come to agreement \u2013 but it has also brought the issues themselves into sharper focus.<\/p>\n \u201cThe tragic fire at COP30, which has derailed UN Climate Conference, the People\u2019s Plenary, and obstructed the negotiations is unfortunately a potent metaphor,\u201d US-based activist Jes Vesconte said, speaking with my colleague Dharna Noor.<\/p>\n \u201cAs capitalist fossil fuel companies, imperialist countries, and militarist powers block the talks here (or in abstentia in the case of the US) \u2014 they are putting profits over planet and people, profiteering off ecocide, genocide and countless deaths, at the expense of all life on Earth, and pouring fuel on the fire of the burning planet.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.07 EST<\/p>\n While we wait for more information about the status of the fire \u2013 and the negotiations it disrupted \u2013 my colleague Oliver Milman has an update on just how absent the US is from the summit:<\/p>\n Some negotiators at Cop30<\/a> have feared a late intervention from Donald Trump, even though the US hasn\u2019t sent a delegation to Belem \u2013 a first for America in this era of annual climate summits.<\/p>\n Instead, the Trump administration has sought to studiously ignore Cop30 and during the conference has pushed ahead with its pro-fossil fuel agenda in the US, tearing down limits placed upon drilling and mining in Alaska and weakening endangered species and clean water rules that industry finds irksome.<\/p>\n Asked by the Guardian for its take on the negotiations, which have included a demand for a phaseout of fossil fuels that Trump would surely balk at, a White House spokeswoman said that other countries are \u201clining up\u201d to import American oil and gas.<\/p>\n \u201cThe president has set a strong example for the rest of the world by reversing course on the green energy scam and unleashing our natural resources, like beautiful, clean coal and natural gas, to strengthen our grid stability and lower energy costs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cPresident Trump has been clear: he will not jeopardize our country\u2019s economic and national security to pursue vague climate goals that are killing other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump, then, may well be the phantom that haunts this Cop, as depicted in a rather grotesque statue placed in front of the venue by the artist Jens Galschi\u00f8t, rather than one that actively shapes it.<\/p>\n Most countries have steered clear of criticizing the US\u2019 absence, bar one brave Tuvaluan<\/a>, and the lack of Trump should, many think, remove a hefty barrier to the negotiations. As Christiana Figueres, the former UN climate chief, said last week when asked about the Trump administration\u2019s no-show: \u201cCiao, bambino!\u2019<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n So far there isn\u2019t any information on what sparked the fire but emergency crews are working to contain the flames. Rains have started which may aid in their efforts.<\/p>\n Power was cut to the buildings as a precaution. Some delegates have been allowed back into their darkened offices, but the venue is largely under evacuation.<\/p>\n The fire erupted in a pavilion, an area of spaces hosted by each country where they can have private meetings and offices away from official negotiating rooms.<\/p>\n The area is part of the sprawling Blue Zone, inaccessible to the public.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>A fire has ignited forcing evacuations A fire has broken out in the Blue Zone. Videos posted on online showed flames billowing <\/a>from pavilion as security personnel blew whistles and called for evacuations.<\/p>\n In areas farther from the fire, alarms disrupted afternoon discussions as attendees were asked to leave the venue. Smoke could be seen wafting from the temporary structures by throngs of people who evacuated outside.<\/p>\n Fire trucks have arrived on scene.<\/p>\n This is a breaking story and we will share more as we have it.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.44 EST<\/p>\n Gabrielle Canon here, taking over for Ajit to take you through the second half of day 10.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s start with a quick recap of where things stand:<\/p>\n The summit started with 121 agenda items on the table, according to Carbon Brief, which has hosted a live tracker of what\u2019s been agreed, drafted, or postponed<\/a>.<\/p>\n The breakdown currently shows 51 items done, 38 in drafts, and 4 with informal text, and 10 still in the red \u2013 a number that\u2019s persisted since Monday.<\/p>\n The days left are winding down to check off these agenda items, which include some of the most challenging issues to reach consensus.<\/p>\n Among the biggest questions is whether a fossil fuels roadmap that will help implement a phaseout and a just transition will make the cut. Ministers are also hoping to work out financing and who will put up the finds to ensure the most impacted nations don\u2019t continue to bear the brunt of the climate crisis.<\/p>\n New draft text is expected tonight.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.14 EST<\/p>\n US President Donald Trump may have snubbed Bel\u00e9m and the UN climate process, but my colleague Fiona Harvey has spotted him in the form of a statue outside the venue.<\/p>\n A statue of an artwork depicting Donald Trump at Cop30 in Belem, Brazil. Photograph: Fiona Harvey\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Titled \u201cThe Orange Plague\u201d, the statue claims to depict US President Donald Trump as a self-proclaimed king of justice, sitting atop a frail man as he wields a golf club next to an Earth-shaped golf ball.<\/p>\n The sculpture by Jens Galschi\u00f8t seeks to \u201chighlight America\u2019s failure to share responsibility for Earth\u2019s future.\u201d The Danish artist, who has exhibited at climate summits dating back to 2002, is best known for his \u201cPillar of Shame\u201d series of sculptures, which memorialise the loss of life during the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing, China.<\/p>\n Staff taking down \u201cPillar of Shame\u201d that was defaced with black paint in front of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, in Taipei, Taiwan in 2022. Photograph: Ann Wang\/Reuters<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear how long the statue will last in Bel\u00e9m.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Next year\u2019s Cop is set to take place in a stunning resort city on the Mediterranean – a tourist magnet that boasts a rich history stretching back to the empires of ancient Greece and Rome.<\/p>\n But in recent years, the weight of the climate crisis has borne down on Antalya. The southern Turkish city and surrounding province of the same name have been plagued in recent years by horrific fires and severe floods.<\/p>\n Cars wade through flooded roads after heavy rains in Antalya, Turkey, in 2024. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty ImagesWildfires in a forested area in Alanya district of Antalya, Turkey, in 2025. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty ImagesPeople running away from the fire-devastated Sirtkoy village, near Manavgat, Antalya, Turkey. Photograph: APDark smoke drifting over a hotel complex during a forest fire near the town of Manavgat, Antalya, on July 29, 2021. Photograph: Ilyas Akengin\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Like other countries on the Mediterranean, Turkey is no strange to violent weather made stronger by carbon pollution. A World Weather Attribution analysis<\/a> this summer found weather conditions leading to deadly wildfires in July in Turkey, Cyprus and Greece were made 10 times more likely due to climate change.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>‘That is a death sentence for many’: UN secretary-general on climate action plans \u201cHow much more must we suffer?\u201d asked Ant\u00f3nio Guterres at Cop30<\/a>. He said frontline communities bearing the brunt of the climate crisis had heard enough excuses and were demanding results.<\/p>\n The UN secretary-general is in Bel\u00e9m to urge the world\u2019s nations to find compromises in the final hours of Cop30 and deliver a deal to accelerate climate action: \u201cWe are down to the wire and the world is watching.\u201d<\/p>\n The stakes could not be higher. He said the emissions cuts pledged to date by countries \u2013 nationally determined contributions in UN jargon \u2013 would lead to a global temperature rise of more than 2C: \u201cThat is a death sentence for many\u2026 we must move much faster, with a drastic cut in emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n Guterres said that overshooting the 1.5C target is now inevitable: \u201cWe know what that means, more heat and hunger, more disasters and displacement, and the higher risk of crossing climate tipping points and irreversible damage, including here in the Amazon.\u201d<\/p>\n But he said temperatures could be returned to 1.5C by end of the century with action: \u201cI strongly appeal to global nations to show willingness and flexibility to deliver results that protect people and keep 1.5C alive,\u201d<\/p>\n Agreeing a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels is a difficult issue at Cops, despite the burning of coal, oil and gas being the root cause of the climate crisis. That is because petrostates can easily obstruct and delay a process that works by consensus decision making.<\/p>\n But Guterres said: \u201cThe world must pursue a just, orderly and equitable transition away from fossil fuels.\u201d Asked if Cop30 would be a failure without a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels, he was diplomatic, saying this is not the moment to talk about possible failure, but the moment to stop failure happening.<\/p>\n He was notably firm on wanting finance for adaptation tripled \u2013 the current target is a doubling of the money from rich nations to pay to protect people around the world from extreme weather, which is being turbocharged by the climate crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cFor millions, adaptation is not an abstract goal,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is the difference between rebuilding and being swept away, between replanting and starving, between staying on ancestral land or losing it forever.\u2019 He also supported a just transition, to ensure those working in the fossil fuel industry are supported into new livelihoods.<\/p>\n \u201cNone of this can happen without finance that is predictable, accessible and guaranteed,\u201d Guterres said. Climate finance<\/a> \u2013 the provision of money from the rich nations that caused the climate crisis to the poorer nations who are impacted the most \u2013 is the basis of trust between the nations. But rows continue about the delivery of the $1.3tn a year by 2035 pledged at last year\u2019s Cop.<\/p>\n Guterres was asked for his message to Donald Trump, who recently called the climate crisis a \u201ccon job\u201d. \u201cWe are waiting for you,\u201d he said. Asked if he thought Trump and the US would engage positively on climate at some point, he said: \u201cHope is the last thing to die.\u201d<\/p>\nDamian Carrington<\/p>\n![\"Oliver](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763664910_531_Oliver-Milman,-L.png\")
Oliver Milman<\/p>\n![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763664910_113_1920.jpg\")
People evacuated after fire breaks out at Cop30 venue \u2013 video<\/p>\nDamian Carrington<\/p>\n