Brazil is preparing to open its doors to the most globally relevant environmental event: the 30th United Nations Climate Conference, COP30.
Uniquely, this will be held for the first time in history in a jungle city: Belém, the capital of the state of Pará, considered the “gateway” to the Amazon.
Therefore, Brazil decided to symbolically change its capital during the event, from November 11 to 21, 2025.
Thus, as approved by the Brazilian Congress, Brasilia will not be the capital of Brazil during COP30. Instead, Belém will assume the role.
The measure was approved this Tuesday by the Chamber of Deputies and now must be sanctioned by President Luiz Inácio “Lula da Silva”.
This change is symbolic, aiming to focus on Belém, the COP30, and its environmental debates during its development.
With this change, during that period the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial powers will carry out their duties in the Amazonian city, instead of in Brasilia.
The temporary transfer of capital status, mainly symbolic, was also done during the Rio-92 climate summit, when Rio de Janeiro briefly became the capital.
Belém for COP 30: why Lula chose it
The choice of this city with just over 1.5 million inhabitants was no coincidence, as “Lula” Da Silva himself proposed and promoted it as the venue.
Da Silva specifically chose Belém as the venue for COP30 due to his commitment to the defense of the Amazon and the climate.
During his visit to COP27 in Egypt, Lula promised to give those who seek to defend the Amazon and the environment in general a closer look at the region.
That’s why he chose and supported “the gateway to the Amazon” as the venue.
The candidacy of Belém was formalized by the Itamaraty in January 2023 and accepted by the UN at the end of that same year.
Thus, the choice of Belém as the venue for COP30 is a recognition of the central role that the rainforest plays both in the environment and in geopolitics.
Lula calls on global leaders to protect the Amazon: his project
There, Lula will not only seek to engage global leaders to see the Amazon firsthand, but he will go further.
At the Summit, the country will demand that the world’s richest nations commit to more decisively finance the preservation of the tropical forests of the Global South.
This was announced this Tuesday by the Brazilian Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, while presenting the Tropical Forests Forever Fund (TFFF).
The objectives of COP30 in Belém
The 30th Conference of the United Nations on Climate will be held from November 10 to 21, 2025, in Belém, Brazil.
It will bring together world leaders, scientists, non-governmental organizations, and civil society to discuss priority measures to address climate change.
COP30 will focus on the efforts needed to limit the increase in global temperature to 1.5 °C.
Additionally, new national action plans (NDC) and progress on the financial commitments made at COP29 will also be presented.
What Lula said about COP30 in Belém
Last Thursday, Lula da Silva stated that the UN Climate Summit in Belém “will not be the COP of luxury, but the COP of truth”.
He said this during a visit to the Amazonian island of Marajó, in front of the city chosen as the venue.
There, he insisted that the event will serve to “see if the world’s presidents are concerned” about global warming.
Although the president admitted that the infrastructure of Belém is not fully prepared for a summit of this nature, he assured that his Government took on the “challenge” of holding it in that city because “the world needs to see how people live” in the Amazon.
“It will not be the COP of luxury. It will be the COP of truth” and especially for the most developed countries, the Brazilian president stated in this regard.
“It is necessary that, to keep our forests standing, they, who have been polluting for much longer than us, resolve to pay to provide quality of life to the people of the Amazon,” he declared.
