UN Secretary-General António Guterres meets with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil (Photo: © UN Climate Change - Kiara Worth) UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell Transcript of opening remarks at closing press conference at COP30 22 November 2025, approx 6:30 pm Belém, Brazil So COP30 showed that climate cooperation is alive and kicking. Keeping humanity in the fight for a livable planet. And that’s despite roaring political headwinds. That, wh

Delegates during the session (Photo: © UN Climate Change - Kiara Worth)By Flick By AFP - Agence France Presse What did countries agree to at COP30? BELÉM, Brazil: The COP30 climate summit has drawn to a close after two weeks in the Amazonian city of Belem, where protests, street marche,s and even a fire caused unexpected moments of drama. But beneath enormous tents erected over a former airport at the edge of the rainforest, nations also adopted some decisions on how to battl

Nearly 200 nations had been holding talks for two weeks in the Brazilian Amazon city of Belem (PABLO PORCIUNCULA) By AFP - Agence France Presse UN Climate Summit Nears End As EU Accepts Watered-down Deal By Nick Perry and Issam Ahmed Nations neared a deal at the UN climate summit Saturday after the EU accepted a text with only an implicit nod to phasing out fossil fuels following fraught negotiations with oil producers and emerging countries. Nearly 200 nations had been holdi

This picture, obtained from Iran's ISNA news agency, shows a view of the fire in the forests of Chalus, which has been going on for several days in Chalus on November 21, 2025. (Photo by MEHRAB FARSAD / ISNA / AFP) By AFP - Agence France Presse Iran Seeks Help With Fire Threatening UNESCO-listed Forests Iran has requested foreign assistance in extinguishing a large fire that has ravaged UNESCO World Heritage-listed forests in the north of the country for several days, local m

Thomas Irwin, right, from the Tree Amigos volunteer group, plants the first of the Trees of Hope in Coventry (Jacob King/PA) By AFP - Agence France Presse First Saplings From Felled UK Tree To Be Planted Jordan Reynolds and Emily Beament, PA The first five saplings grown from one of the UK's most iconic trees after it was deliberately felled will be planted on Saturday, organisers said. Until September 2023, the tree had stood for nearly 200 years in a dramatic dip next to Ha

Alessandra Korap, a leader of the Munduruku people, takes part in a protest at COP30 (Pablo PORCIUNCULA). (Pablo PORCIUNCULA/AFP/AFP) By AFP - Agence France Presse Brazil's planned railway to the Amazon draws fire on the margins of COP30 Fran BLANDY Indigenous protesters at UN climate talks in Brazil have zeroed in on a major grievance: A planned railway that would stretch almost the distance from London to Berlin and cut through the Amazon rainforest. To farmers, the Ferrogr

At stake at COP30 is nothing less than proving that international cooperation can still function (PABLO PORCIUNCULA) By AFP - Agence France Presse COP30 Deal Under Threat As Nations Clash Over Fossil Fuels By Issam Ahmed, Julien Mivielle, and Nick Perry Negotiators scrambled Friday to salvage UN climate talks in Brazil as oil-producing nations were accused of resisting any reference to a fossil fuel phaseout in the final deal. After nearly two weeks of negotiations in the Ama

Indigenous people hold signs reading "The answer is us" and "End of fossil fuels, no mining in our territories" during a march on the sidelines of the COP30 UN Climate Change Conference in Belem, Brazil (Mauro PIMENTEL). (Mauro PIMENTEL/AFP/AFP) By AFP - Agence France Presse 30-plus nations oppose COP30 draft over fossil fuel omission: Colombia More than 30 countries have co-signed a letter opposing Brazil's draft proposal at the UN climate conference because it fails to incl

By AFP's Evelyn Kpadeh Seagbeh and Code for Africa's Kunle Adebajo By AFP - Agence France Presse The case of Africa's 'vanishing' carbon deals. When Liberia's government signed an agreement with a little-known Dubai company run by a royal sheikh in 2023, the "carbon credit" deal promised to protect vast tracts of forests and offset big polluters' emissions. It was one of a flurry of deals UAE-based Blue Carbon signed that year, covering millions of hectares of forests across

The UN called the youth activists 'the change-makers our troubled world so desperately needs' (Fabrice COFFRINI).(Fabrice COFFRINI/AFP/AFP) By AFP - Agence France Presse UN celebrates youth activists using tech for good. Five young activists from around the world received a UN-backed prize Thursday in recognition of their use of technology to drive positive global change. An Indian teenager using mobile tools to monitor water quality and a young lawyer using technology to pro

A fire inside the venue of UN climate talks in Brazil has been brought under control (-)(-/AFPTV/AFP) By AFP - Agence France Presse Fire forces evacuation at UN climate talks Nick Perry and Issam Ahmed A fire erupted in a pavilion of the UN climate talks in Brazil on Thursday, forcing panicked delegates to run for the exits and interrupting negotiations. UN and security crews rushed with extinguishers to put out the fierce blaze, which quickly tore a hole in the fabric roof o

Adopted in 2023, the EU's deforestation law was hailed by green groups as a breakthrough in the fight to protect nature and combat climate change (STR) By AFP - Agence France Presse EU States Back New Delay To Anti-deforestation Rules By Adrien DE CALAN EU member states on Wednesday backed a new one-year delay to landmark anti-deforestation rules that have hit a wall of opposition from businesses and trading partners, diplomats told AFP. Already delayed by a year, the rollout

Irish data centres are a quietly purring economic engine, but doubts are mounting over the environmental cost (PAUL FAITH) By AFP - Agence France Presse Ireland's Data Centres Power Digital Age, Drain The Grid By Peter MURPHY Ireland hosts one of the world's fast-growing clusters of data centres, but is running headlong into the difficult consequences. The server farms powering global tech giants now consume a fifth of the small nation's electricity, igniting concerns over bo

António Guterres — the former Portuguese prime minister who, more than any other secretary-general before him, has made climate his main focus — delivered an urgent message (Pablo PORCIÚNCULA). (Pablo PORCIÚNCULA/AFP/AFP). By AFP - Agence France Presse UN Chief Calls for "Ambitious Compromise" in Climate Negotiations Issam AHMED With the UN climate negotiations nearing their end in Belém, the head of the world organization urged nations on Thursday to reach an "ambitious comp

In coastal Nha Trang, whole city blocks were inundated, and hundreds of cars were underwater (Duc Thao). (Duc Thao/AFP/AFP) By AFP - Agence France Presse Vietnam flooding submerges homes, kills 41, after relentless rain. Rescuers plucked stranded people from the rooftops of submerged homes as widespread flooding inundated central Vietnam, where authorities said on Thursday at least 41 people were killed. Relentless rain has lashed south-central Vietnam since late October, and

Wet wipes can be very damaging to the environment if flushed down the toilet. (Getty) By AFP - Agence France Presse Sewer-Blocking Plastic Wet Wipes Face Ban In England England will ban the sale and supply of wet wipes containing plastic, a huge cause of pollution and sewer blockages, the UK government announced on Tuesday. Rivers, lakes, and beaches will be cleaner and wildlife "better protected" by the measures, due to come into force in early 2027, an environment ministry

President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks during the G20 "Social Summit" ahead of the leaders' meeting at the weekend (EMMANUEL CROSET). (EMMANUEL CROSET/AFP/AFP) By AFP - Agence France Presse No bullying, Ramaphosa says as US snubs S.Africa's G20 Hillary ORINDE South Africa will not be bullied, President Cyril Ramaphosa said Thursday in a jab at the United States, which said it would boycott the G20 summit in Johannesburg this weekend. Washington has also demanded that South Africa n

Australia and Turkey both wanted to host next year's climate summit, and unless one withdrew its bid, both would have missed out. (PABLO PORCIUNCULA) By AFP - Agence France Presse By Nick Perry Australia has conceded defeat in a bruising diplomatic struggle over hosting rights to next year's UN climate summit, with Turkey prevailing despite holding a much weaker hand. Exactly who presides over the blockbuster global event is still in play, but Australia's long-running campaig

In drought-hit villages in India, wells are drying up, forcing families to adapt to harsher conditions (Shefali RAFIQ). (Shefali RAFIQ/AFP/AFP) By AFP - Agence France Presse Education for girls hit hard by India's drying wells Shefali Rafiq Each morning, 17-year-old Ramati Mangla sets off barefoot with a steel pot in hand, walking several kilometres to fetch water from a distant spring in India's Maharashtra state. By the time she returns, school has already started. "I have

Brazil's Vice President and Minister of Industry and Trade, Geraldo Alckmin (L), and Brazil's Environment Minister Marina Silva addressed the press in Belem on Monday (Pablo PORCIUNCULA). (Pablo PORCIUNCULA/AFP/AFP) By AFP - Agence France Presse Lula To Return To COP30 As Nations Under Pressure To Land Deal By Nick PERRY and Julien MIVIELLE UPDATES with Brazil's plan to finalize tough decisions on Wednesday, Lula's visit confirmed COP30 host Brazil pushed Tuesday for an early