The big news this week is that there’s a climate conference on the horizon.
The 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP30, begins tomorrow in Belém, Brazil, and it’s a hugely consequential and controversial event this year. On one hand, it’s clear that climate-related disasters are growing more severe, and the impacts more serious — witness the vast impact of Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica. On the other hand, there’s increasing pushback against any kind of response to the climate emergency, led by the “America First” administration of President Donald Trump.
The Belém COP is also fraught with controversy over the choice of location. While the symbolism of a COP held at the edge of the Amazon rainforest is powerful, there have been major practical problems with organizing a conference of the necessary scale in a relatively isolated community. As a result, the conference has spilled over into multiple locations.