Lula chooses André Corrêa do Lago as COP30 president January 21, 2025
- Ana Cunha-Busch
- Jan 20
- 4 min read
Lula chooses André Corrêa do Lago as COP30 president
Ana Toni will be the executive secretary of the event to be held in Belém
ANDREIA VERDÉLIO - AGÊNCIA BRASIL REPORTER
January 21, 2025
Ambassador André Aranha Corrêa do Lago will be the president of the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), scheduled to take place in November in Belém (PA).
He is the Secretary for Climate, Energy, and the Environment at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and will have the mission of leading the negotiations for a global agreement on the issue.
The National Secretary for Climate Change at the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MMA), Ana Toni, will be the executive director of COP30.
The announcement was made by the Ministers of the Environment, Marina Silva, and of Foreign Affairs, Maria Laura da Rocha, after a meeting with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at the Planalto Palace.
“These two positions are fundamental and strategic in terms of content, negotiation, and leadership of the whole COP process,” said Marina. Logistics and infrastructure issues are the responsibility of the President's Chief of Staff.
Ambassador André Aranha Corrêa do Lago will be the president of the 30th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP30), scheduled to take place in November in Belém (PA).
He is the Secretary for Climate, Energy, and the Environment at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and will have the mission of leading the negotiations for a global agreement on the issue.
The National Secretary for Climate Change at the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MMA), Ana Toni, will be the executive director of COP30.
The announcement was made by the Ministers of the Environment, Marina Silva, and Foreign Affairs, Maria Laura da Rocha, after a meeting with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at the Planalto Palace.
“These two positions are fundamental and strategic in terms of content, negotiation, and leadership of the whole COP process,” said Marina. Logistics and infrastructure issues are the responsibility of the President's Chief of Staff.
Corrêa do Lago has experience in environmental, sustainable development, and climate change issues and was Brazil's chief negotiator in international forums on the subject between 2011 and 2013 and in 2023 and 2024. Ana Toni has a long history of promoting projects and public policies aimed at social justice, the environment, and climate change.
Both were active members of the official Brazilian delegation at COP29, held last November in Baku, Azerbaijan.
In an interview with the press, the ambassador thanked President Lula for his confidence and said that Brazil can play an “incredible role” at this year's COP, which he said will be built with different actors - government, civil society, and companies.
Corrêa do Lago guaranteed that the participation of the peoples of the Amazon, where the conference will be held, is “essential”:
“The COP has several dimensions, it will have an immense dimension for Brazil itself since RIO-92 [United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992] had a very big impact on the way Brazilians perceived climate change, perceived the environment, perceived biodiversity. So it has an extremely important national dimension.”
“During this preparatory period, we're going to talk a lot with civil society because they must be involved in the process. Because, as in RIO-92, it's the people who have to believe in this agenda [of combating climate change] and who have to contribute to making this agenda work,” added the ambassador.
Although the formal presidency of the COP will remain under Azerbaijan's responsibility until the official opening of the event in November, it will be up to Brazil, as president-designate, to lead efforts for the success of the negotiations, promoting dialogue between countries and other interested parties.
United States
Corrêa do Lago was asked about the emptying of COP30 with the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement, which is the international treaty adopted in 2015 on mitigation, adaptation, and financing to combat climate change.
He clarified that the US left the agreement, but remains a signatory to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change.
“There are several channels that remain open, but there is no doubt that this is a political announcement of great impact,” he said of the decision by the new US president, Donald Trump.
“The United States is an essential actor, because not only is it the largest economy, but it is also one of the largest emitters [of greenhouse gases], one of the countries that has brought answers to climate change, with technology. The United States has extraordinary companies and also several American states, American cities that are very involved in this debate,” he explained.
“We are all still analyzing President Trump's decisions, but there is no doubt that this will have a significant impact on the preparations for the COP and on how we will have to deal with the fact that such an important country is withdrawing from this process,” he added.
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