A COP of implementation and truth

By Filipe Martins SJ, European Secretary for Social Justice and Ecology

After months of preparation for this campaign, it feels thrilling to be finally in Belém and start this COP30.

As President Lula said during the opening ceremony, “here you’ll experience the wonderful hospitality of the Brazilian people”. And he’s right, as everybody in the COP premises and all over the city is often smiling and eager to help.

As for the other speakers, they referred to the challenges that lie ahead: André Correa do Lago, COP30 president, said that “this will be the COP of implementation and truth”, and stressed the urgency of it; Simon Stiell, president of UNFCCC, used the beautiful metaphor of the Amazon, “not just a river but a complex system of more than 1000 streams”, to highlight the importance of multilateralism and of “working together”; and Mukhtar Babayev, President of the previous COP in Baku, recalled the centrality of adequate climate finance, as the necessary changes will not come without a cost.

In short: vibrant as it might have been, this first day didn’t allow anyone to forget the challenging work in the upcoming two weeks. It started well, but only the next days will tell if and how we’re able to move from words to action.