At COP30, Leaders Say Time Running Short To Stop Worst Effects Of Warming

"BELEM, Brazil — World leaders warned Thursday that time is running short for urgent and decisive action to prevent the worst effects of climate change, and blasted the United States for its retreat from those efforts, as they gathered at the edge of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest for the annual United Nations climate summit.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres opened a gathering of heads of state in Belem, Brazil, with harsh words for world powers who he said “remain captive to the fossil fuel interests, rather than protecting the public interest.”

Allowing global warming to exceed the key benchmark of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit), laid out in the Paris Agreement, would represent a “moral failure and deadly negligence,” Guterres said, warning that “even a temporary overshoot will have dramatic consequences ... every fraction of a degree higher means more hunger, displacement and loss.”"

Isabel Debre and Mauricio Savarese report for the Associated Press November 6, 2025.

SEE ALSO:

"At a Climate Summit Without the U.S., Allies and Rivals Call for Action" (New York Times)

"COP30: World Leaders Take Aim At Trump For Climate Inaction" (BBC News)

"World Leaders Punch Back At US Climate Denial Ahead Of Brazil's COP30 Negotiations" (Reuters)

"Trump Officials Accused of Bullying Tactics to Kill a Climate Measure" (New York Times)

"How Thousands Of Fossil Fuel Lobbyists Got Access To UN Climate Talks – And Then Kept Drilling" (Guardian)

"COP30 Summit Contends With Trump’s Disdain for Climate Change" (Bloomberg)

Source: AP, 11/07/2025