Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva promised COP attendees that this conference would be different. …Lula called for a “road map” for the world’s phaseout of fossil fuels. This was intended to make good on an international agreement made at COP28, when UN member countries reached consensus on the need to “transition away” from coal, oil, and gas. …Ultimately it came down to dollars and cents. …The most substantial new agreement negotiated reflected this realism. The delegations agreed that, by 2035, the world would triple international funding provided to help developing nations adapt to the consequences of a warmer world. …There were no new agreements to wind down fossil fuel use or curb deforestation. The latter omission appeared to be a diplomatic blunder: The COP presidency had put the new, controversial language on fossil fuels in the same sentence as the comparatively benign clause on halting deforestation, dooming it by association.