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In a wide-ranging conversation, Brazil’s first minister of Indigenous peoples, Sônia Guajajara, spoke with Democracy Now! at the COP30 climate summit in Belém. She addressed criticisms of the Lula government in Brazil, which has championed climate action even while boosting some oil and gas exploration in the country; celebrated the strong presence of Indigenous representatives at this year’s climate talks; and stressed the need to phase out fossil fuels. Guajajara also criticized the Trump administration for pressuring Brazil to release former President Jair Bolsonaro after he was convicted of involvement in a coup attempt. Bolsonaro was an opponent of Indigenous rights, and if he is sent to prison, “we expect he will be paying for all his crimes,” including “everything he has done against us,” says Guajajara.

Kyiv said the claim would cover emissions from the fossil fuels and emissions-heavy commodities like cement and steel used in fighting the war, among others.

In the past, farmers have balanced their political beliefs against market logic. How much pressure can farmers endure?

As we broadcast from the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, calls are growing for stronger protections for refugees and migrants forcibly displaced by climate disasters. The United Nations estimates about 250 million people have been forced from their homes in the last decade due to deadly drought, storms, floods and extreme heat — mainly in the Global South, where many populations have also faced repeated displacement due to war and extreme poverty. Meanwhile, wealthier Global North nations disproportionately responsible for greenhouse emissions that fuel global warming are intensifying their crackdowns on migrants and climate refugees fleeing compounding humanitarian crises. “The main issue is always poverty, lack of opportunity, and climate change is basically exacerbating this problem,” Guatemala’s vice minister of natural resources and climate change, Edwin Josué Castellanos López, told Democracy Now! “This is not abstract,” Nikki Reisch, director of climate and energy at the Center for International Environmental Law, says of climate-induced migration. “This is about real lives. It’s about survival. It’s about human rights and dignity, and, ultimately, about justice.” Reisch also gives an update on the state of the COP30 negotiations, noting the “big-ticket items” on the agenda are providing financing for transition and adaptation, phasing out fossil fuels and preserving forests. “The big polluters need to phase out and pay up,” says Reisch.

China and the US have competing visions for the future of energy, and Beijing is looking like the safer bet.

Investments in clean energy and transportation hit $75 billion in the US in the third quarter of this year, a Rhodium report found.

So far the only thing delegates have been able to agree on is where to host upcoming COPs: In Turkey next year, then likely Ethiopia in 2027.

Usually, the COP president comes from the host nation, but an Australian will lead negotiations in 2026.

This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. In a dramatic twist of political defections and contentious concessions, the longest ever federal shutdown came to a close last week as Congress finally managed to agree on a deal to reopen the government. Federal agencies are now beginning to […]