Brazil UN climate chief praises successes of the Paris Agreement
At the start of the World Climate Conference in Brazil, UN climate chief Simon Stiell emphasized the successes in the fight against global warming - and at the same time called for more speed.
10.11.2025, 17:12
SDA
The Paris Climate Agreement concluded ten years ago has led to a slowdown in the emission of climate-damaging greenhouse gases, he told the plenary session in the Brazilian city of Belém in the Amazon region. But he did not want to sugarcoat anything. "We must become much, much faster - both in reducing emissions and in strengthening our resilience."
Lamenting is not a strategy
The science is clear, Stiell added. Humanity can and must push global warming to less than 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial times - after a now unavoidable temporary overshoot of the mark. However, lamenting this is not a strategy. "Hesitating now makes neither economic nor political sense - at a time when megadroughts are destroying national harvests and driving up food prices."
The plenary elected the Brazilian career diplomat André Corrêa do Lago as conference president. He said that cooperation between states, i.e. multilateralism, was the key to success. This COP must deliver concrete solutions. Above all, the meeting should be one that listens to science and believes in its results.
Solar and wind energy usually the most cost-effective
Stiell said that the success of the energy transition gave hope. "Solar and wind energy are now the most cost-effective energy sources in 90 percent of the world. Renewable energies have replaced coal as the world's most important energy source this year." Investments in renewable energies now outweigh those in oil, gas and coal by a ratio of 2:1.
The hosts of the COP30 are expecting around 50,000 participants. More than 190 countries will spend two weeks discussing how to curb global warming and its fatal consequences. These include more frequent and more severe droughts, storms, forest fires and floods. It also deals with demands from poor countries for more money to adapt to these more hostile conditions.
