Two competing narratives are dominating the climate summit in Belem, Brazil: hope and failure. On one hand, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s new forest protection fund has secured $5.5 billion in pledges. On the other, the UN chief is warning of “moral failure” and “deadly negligence” from world powers.
Lula’s proposal, the “Tropical Forests Forever Facility,” is a plan to pay 74 developing nations to halt deforestation. It’s backed by a $3 billion pledge from Norway and an expected commitment from Germany. The fund will use loans, not aid, to make preservation economically viable.
The fund also dedicates 20 percent of its resources to Indigenous peoples, the long-time guardians of the forests. The summit’s location in the Amazon highlights the critical role these ecosystems play in absorbing carbon dioxide.
In stark contrast to this constructive proposal, UN Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a blistering speech. He accused world leaders of being “captive to fossil fuel interests” and warned that exceeding the 1.5-degree Celsius warming limit would have “dramatic consequences.”
Adding to the sense of crisis, the leaders of the planet’s three biggest polluters—China, the US, and India—were absent from the preliminary gathering. This division underscores the immense challenge Lula faces in turning his ambitious, finance-based vision into a global reality.
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