Brazil taps COP30 head, warns of Trump's impact on climate talks

By Lisandra Paraguassu

Brazil's newly nominated head of the planned 2025 COP30 climate summit in the Amazonian city of Belem warned on Tuesday that President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement would cast a shadow over the talks.

"We are still analyzing President Trump's announcements, but there is no doubt they will have a significant impact on preparation for COP30," Ambassador Andre Correa do Lago told reporters on Tuesday shortly after he was named to the post.

Trump withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 pact right after taking office for a second non-consecutive term on Monday, removing the world's biggest historic emitter of greenhouse gases from global efforts to fight climate change for the second time in a decade.

The move adds to challenges Brazil was already set to face as COP30 host, including tough disputes over financing the energy transition in developing countries and the new pledges to reduce emissions countries have vowed to make.

Correa do Lago said "there are still many paths of dialogue" with the U.S., despite Trump's latest move, noting the country is still a member of the United Nations climate convention, a forum of dialogue between nations about global climate policy.

The announcement of the COP30 head is the starting point for the Brazilian government to set up the leadership structure that will carry out negotiations for what likely will be one of the most difficult conferences in recent years.

In his new role, Correa do Lago will serve as the main facilitator and mediator between country delegations at the November summit.

The presidency is considered essential to the success of the conference, in which leaders from almost every nation on the planet will negotiate how to keep global warming below catastrophic levels, after two years of record heat.

Correa do Lago's pick by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva marks a return of the conference's leadership to the hands of officials with a history of working in climate policy.

He has been Brazil's negotiator at global climate summits since 2023, a role he also had between 2011 and 2013, and has worked in climate diplomacy and sustainable development since 2001.

Both Azerbaijan, which hosted the conference last year, and the UAE, the host in 2023, appointed officials who worked in state-owned oil companies to lead the summit.

Brazil is also facing steep challenges to get the city of Belem, in the Amazon rainforest, ready to welcome tens of thousands of people in November.

In the next few months, the city will need to at least double the number of beds available in hotels and other accommodation.

Lula, who has vowed to end deforestation in the Amazon, has attached much of his political capital on the global stage to the success of the conference in Belem, the second most populous city in the region.

Sources in the government told Reuters that Correa do Lago was the best candidate for the position, since he is not only familiar with all climate negotiations but also has connections with all sectors involved within the government itself.

He was responsible, for example, for resolving the impasse between rich countries and developing ones in the G20 climate negotiations in Rio de Janeiro, which threatened to paralyze the summit communique last year.