Hello and welcome back to our weekly climate newsletter.
World leaders have gathered in Brazil for the start of the UN's Cop30 climate summit, as the top leaders of the planet's three biggest polluters – the United States, China and India – stay away from the opening meeting despite warnings that the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C is slipping out of reach.
Brazil's president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva opened the summit in Belém on Thursday with a warning against "extremist forces" spreading lies about the climate crisis for political gain.
"We need a roadmap to plan a just way to undo deforestation, overcome fossil fuels and mobilise the resources needed for those aims," he told fellow leaders, calling for renewed global solidarity to protect tropical forests and fund a just transition.
Sir Keir Starmer, who is attending the summit in person, also admitted the "consensus is gone" on the climate crisis as governments across the world row back on pledges to cut emissions.
"But that makes our duty even greater," the prime minister told the conference: "Because inaction will only deepen the problems of rising bills, energy insecurity and global instability."
Pointing to the hurricane which recently brought destruction to the Caribbean, he continued: "Just look at the tragic destruction brought by Hurricane Melissa: Lives lost, homes, livelihoods, entire communities destroyed, islands just trapped in its devastating path.
"So, we say today to our friends in Jamaica and across the Caribbean, we stand with you."
There might be a sense that global progress on the climate crisis is flagging, but experts say that there remains real hope that the summit in Brazil can drive forward the climate agenda - so long as rich countries agree to budge on the key issue of aid.
Over the next two weeks, our climate correspondent Nick Ferris will be reporting from Belem as we track the negotiations and bring you all the latest updates from the ground.
Stay tuned!
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