Transcript of the Press Statement by President Lula at COP30 – 19 November 2025

On the 10th day of COP30, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, and the President of the Conference, Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago, delivered a press statement.

Embaixador André Corrêa do Lago, President of COP30: Good afternoon, everyone. As you can tell from the President’s mood, it was a very good day. Today, we held meetings with several negotiating groups and discussed some of the most complex themes in the negotiations—adaptation, financing, and the Roadmap itself. We, therefore, met with various negotiating groups, as well as civil society, the private sector, and subnational governments, discussing the vast economic implications of COP30 and the increasing recognition of the impacts and consequences of climate action. This demonstrates that the climate agenda now encompasses virtually all human activities.

This explains the great diversity of actors and personalities who came here not only to support the negotiations but also to support the implementation efforts carried out throughout COP30.

It became clear that we are experiencing a transition in the role of COPs—from negotiations, which will continue to be essential, to the creation of documents that now allow us to begin implementing many of the measures needed to tackle climate change.

I believe that all of you have attended dozens of activities in both the Green and Blue Zones, witnessing an impressive array of initiatives at the subnational, scientific, private sector, and civil society levels. The societal debate has been extremely intense.

With the civil society, we discussed the People’s Summit, the strong participation of Indigenous peoples at the COP, the role of social movements, and the essential importance of a just transition.

Another significant topic raised by several countries was gender. We will see, at this COP, a major evolution in how gender and climate change are addressed. So, President Lula, I could speak for hours, but you must return to Brasília. Thank you, President, for coming.

Marina Silva, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change: Good evening to all. Thank you, Mr. President, for the dedication you have shown to COP30. You attended the opening, the Summit, and now this decisive phase. It demonstrates your commitment to one of the greatest challenges humanity has ever faced: climate change—especially concerning the most vulnerable.

The topics addressed and the groups with which we have engaged in this fruitful dialogue—where the President arrives renewed and in good spirits, as you can see—have already been mentioned by the President of the COP, Ambassador Corrêa do Lago.

I would like to highlight something particularly encouraging: our TFFF, which you have all been asking about constantly. We were delighted to receive Germany’s announcement of its contribution.

This contribution [...], amounting to approximately 1 billion euros for the TFFF, is the result of ongoing efforts and demonstrates that this global financing instrument is very well designed, very well structured, and is beginning to deliver results

Alongside the UN Secretary-General, President Lula delivered to António Guterres our instrument of ratification of the Agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ)—an achievement and an issue of great interest to the President ahead of the Oceans COP.

The First Lady also engaged personally, and today we delivered this to the Secretary-General. We at the Ministry of the Environment, together with the Ministry of Management, represented by my colleague, Minister Esther Dweck, are very pleased. Topics such as adaptation, mitigation, and just transition have been discussed with various groups. These issues carry complexities, of course, but the President has consistently offered paths and ways to move forward, entrusting us, and in particular our capable diplomacy, with great responsibility.

The Roadmap has been a subject of great interest for all of you, for society at large, and for the scientific community. There were many questions, and we certainly obtained good responses—not definitive ones, but procedural ones. The Roadmap allows both developed and developing countries to define their trajectories in the best possible way, so they can transition away from fossil-fuel dependence and halt deforestation.

This means establishing language that respects the needs of developing countries while increasing the responsibilities of those that historically emit more and possess greater technological and financial capacity—all while ensuring that everyone works together to find the best paths forward.

It is a fruitful dialogue. No one has a ready-made answer, and no one seeks to impose anything on anyone, but I am certain we still have a long way to go before we reach consensus. I believe in progressive consensus—when all of us are genuinely committed to doing our best for the climate and for the dignity of the most vulnerable—because ethics always guides the technical solutions to our greatest challenges.

President Lula: All right, whether it’s applause or booing, someone has to start. If no one starts, nothing happens.

First, I would like to thank you for the work you are doing at this COP. I want to thank the Brazilian press and the international press, because ultimately, you are the ones who convey to those who are not here the real face of this COP.

From the very beginning, I had no doubt that we would deliver the best COP ever held. Accepting the state of Pará and the city of Belém as the venue for an event that is not ours—an event of the United Nations—was a challenge and an act of boldness, because it would have been far easier to hold it somewhere already prepared, without the challenges of bringing such an event to a city that many Brazilians have never visited.

I want to thank you again for this. Today, I am certain that China knows Belém. I am certain that Berlin knows Belém. Paris knows Belém. Russia knows Belém. And many people in southern Brazil now know Belém.

It was very important for us to show the Amazon as it truly is, and to embed it in the minds of people around the world. I am certain that people now know that there is not only the city of Bethlehem where Jesus was born, but also Belém do Pará—the Belém of the Brazilian people, a people extraordinarily warm, welcoming, and generous, with whom you have certainly engaged.

If you in the press have not yet danced carimbó, please go dance carimbó; go taste the finest cuisine our country has to offer, and enjoy yourselves, because the people here are incredibly generous and friendly.

I am truly happy. I am leaving now for Brasília. Tomorrow, I will attend the Auto Show, which had not been held in São Paulo for eight years. Then, I will travel to Johannesburg for the G20 meeting, and afterward to Mozambique for another State visit to an African nation.

But I could not leave without telling you that this COP is different. First, because it included many participants, including entrepreneurs. I don’t know how many times a First Lady has worked as much, at a COP, as Janja has. She was not here because she is my wife; she was here because she was assigned a role—a mandate given by the COP Presidency—to travel Brazil and the world speaking about women’s participation. We had people speaking for the business community, and youth speaking for youth.

Because we must instil in world leaders the understanding that these events cannot continue as perpetually ceremonial gatherings, restricted to a handful of people and often held in heavily policed, barricaded spaces.

When I first attended a G7 meeting in Évian, France, and later in Scotland, I saw so many fences and so much security that I wondered: leaders who require such protection must know they are not doing the right thing, because if they were, they would not need to fear the citizens.

I am also very happy because the people’s march was extraordinarily beautiful and orderly, and because everyone delivered their documents to us. I am very happy because, for the first time in COP history, 3,500 Indigenous people participated; because women were not treated as objects, but as central actors within the issue of gender inclusion, deserving respect and full participation; because women are not second-class citizens, and we as leaders must learn this.

At the very least, we must contribute by innovating. Innovating in our behavior, vision of society, and understanding of what it means to be human on this planet.

What is the role of youth? What is the role of women? What is the role of men? What is the role of Black people? Everyone has a role in society.

This COP reflected that, which is why it was held in Belém—a city that many in Brazil claimed was unprepared to host it. Yet, it delivered a COP better than those in Copenhagen, Dubai, Paris, London—better than anywhere—because here the people were truly present. The people participated more.

That is why this is not the COP of Ambassador André, President of COP30, nor of Guterres, Secretary-General of the UN, nor of Lula, President of the Republic. This can be called the first People’s COP of the entire world, because people from around the globe came here to express themselves.

I would like to tell you something extremely important: leaders who govern today must understand that if we do not act according to the aspirations of the people, youth, and women, we risk putting democracy, multilateralism, and credibility at stake.

If we do not deliver what people expect from us, they have no reason to trust their leaders. The climate issue is no longer an academic matter for a few intellectuals or environmentalists. The climate crisis is now extremely serious and threatens humanity.

That is why we treat it with great seriousness. All leaders must understand that caring for the climate means safeguarding the existence of the planet, because we have not found another place to survive.

Caring for the climate means understanding that rich countries must assist poor countries and provide funding, so people who keep their forests standing can continue to do so—and know that maintaining the forest can yield more than destroying it. Keeping our water clean is essential to keeping the planet functioning. This is not abstract.

We must convince people that multilateral development banks—charging exorbitant interest rates from African countries and poor nations in Latin America—must convert part of this debt into investment, so energy transition can truly occur.

Oil companies must pay part of this. Mining companies must pay part of this. Those who earn large fortunes must pay part of this—otherwise the poorest people on Earth will suffer most: the islands, the poor in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Everyone must understand their responsibility.

That is why we introduced the Roadmap. We must show society that we are serious—without imposing anything on anyone, without setting deadlines. Each country has the sovereignty to determine what it can do within its timeframe and capacities, but we must show seriousness.

We must reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. If fossil fuels emit too much, we must begin thinking about how to live without them and how to build that path.

I say this freely, because I am from a country that has oil—a country that extracts 5 million barrels per day—but also a country that uses the highest proportion of ethanol blended into gasoline; a country that produces large amounts of biodiesel—our diesel already contains 15 percent biodiesel; a country in which 87 percent of electricity is clean. I want everyone to have that.

For this to happen, poor countries must be supported by rich countries. Rich countries can support Africa’s energy transition, the production of biofuels, wind, solar—everything. It is not only about money, but also about technology transfer, knowledge, and helping countries leap in quality.

I believe our negotiating team—two men and one woman (the woman smarter than both)—will achieve the best possible outcome. At a COP, nothing is imposed: everything must be reached by consensus and through much dialogue.

We respect the political, ideological, territorial, and cultural sovereignty of every country. We do not wish to impose anything; we simply ask: “Is it possible?” If it is possible, let us build it together. That is why I am so happy. So happy that I hope one day to convince the President of the United States that the climate crisis is serious, that green development is necessary. So happy that I even dream of the war between Russia and Ukraine coming to an end. There is no reason for that war to continue.

I leave here for Brasília, knowing that our negotiating team will deliver the best result a COP has ever offered the planet.

So a kiss to your hearts, and my best wishes for the remainder of the COP.