COP30 in Brazil: “Let the words…be followed by action” – Pres Ali challenges world leaders

…presents 3-point plan to advance global climate change agenda

Recognising that the United Nations (UN) climate conference – the Conference of the Parties (COP) – is not moving with the speed or success needed, President Dr Irfaan Ali on Thursday presented a series of solutions to world leaders in Belém, Brazil, which he says could help to accelerate promises to progress.
Addressing world leaders who gathered for COP30 in Belém, the Guyanese Head of State highlighted three areas that should take priority to advance the global climate change agenda.

That three-point plan included a push to accelerate sustainable energy transition while ensuring its security in light of rising energy demands, especially in the areas of digital revolution, artificial intelligence (AI), and automation.
“Global energy demand is rising, including demand for AI and data systems that were not even imagined a few years ago. Yet chronic energy insecurity still defines the lives of billions. All of this makes one truth unavoidable: we must accelerate the energy transition at the same time as we expand energy security.”
“That means moving on two tracks: massive investment to scale renewables, hydrogen storage, and modern grid systems to decarbonise growth and meet rising demand. And science-based policy that advances a just transition by powering the remainder of the fossil fuel era with the lowest carbon, most efficient, least cost fuels,” he asserted.
Doing this, according to President Ali, requires a recommitment to global rules and not relying on global slogans. He added that it also means recognising that responsible producers must be included in the search for solutions.
Another one of the solutions that Guyana, based on its own experience and success, has touted at the global climate summit is the important role of the forest.

Monetising the forest
Despite ramping up oil and gas production activities offshore, Guyana remains a net carbon sink with a tropical forest that stores 19.5 gigatons of carbon. In fact, Guyana is now earning millions of dollars from the sale of its ART/TREES-certified carbon credits, with the revenues being reinvested into local indigenous communities as well as in renewable energy, technology, job creation, and the biggest adaptation investment in the country’s history – the Gas to Energy (GtE) Project.
According to the Guyanese leader, Guyana has shown how fair and effective solutions such as monetising the forest carbon can work.
“We must act on forests. Forests must be mainstream in this agenda. They absorb around one-third of global emissions and remain the most viable and cost-effective opportunity for mitigation by 2030. Forests cannot be an afterthought. It cannot be a negotiated item on the agenda of COP. Forests must be mainstream and part of every single COP. We must not fight for forests to be on any agenda. If we are serious about climate change, forests must find a permanent place on the agenda of climate change,” he contended.
President Ali went on to laud the COP30 host country for advancing the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), which complements the work Guyana is doing through the Forests and Climate Leaders Partnership (FCLP) – a group of almost 40 countries co-chaired by Guyana and the United Kingdom. The FCLP countries work together and with other partners to develop the Forest Finance Roadmap, a shared plan setting out a menu of six complementary options to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030.

Biodiversity
The Head of State further outlined the need to integrate biodiversity into the climate agenda. He stressed that healthy biodiversity strengthens ecosystems, strong ecosystems stabilise the climate, and a stable climate protects economies and sustains societies.
Already, Guyana is expanding its protected areas to meet its 30 by 30 target and launched the Global Biodiversity Alliance earlier this year to bring countries together to value nature in its entirety, not just the carbon it stores.
“Many speak glowingly about biodiversity and nature, but when a small country [like Guyana] puts its hands up and says, we are going to lead and we are going to launch an alliance, they cannot find the time to join that Alliance. They cannot find the time to attend the summit on the Alliance, but they will speak glowingly about biodiversity and nature. Let the words and meditation of our heart be followed by action and not based on the size of countries or the power of a country. Climate change affects us all equally,” Dr Ali asserted.

Adaptation
The third point that the Guyanese leader pointed out in his plan is the need to advance financing for adaptation efforts.
“Even if all mitigation targets are met, millions already live with the consequences of climate change. For them, adaptation is survival. Investing in resilience protects lives, food systems, and economies. It strengthens stability and peace,” he contended.
COP30 is being hosted in the Brazilian city of Belém and officially starts on November 10 and runs to the 21st, when world leaders sit down to commence talks. This is the first time that the global climate change summit is being held in the Amazon region, home to the world’s largest tropical rainforest – parts of which run through Guyana.
According to President Ali, there is no other forum where every nation can sit as equals to shape the planet’s response to climate change. To this end, he impressed the importance of ensuring COP30 succeeds.
“We must make this process work. But to do so, we must recognise that a COP process and a wider climate agenda are not moving forward with the speed or success our people deserve… And too often, bureaucracies, including within international institutions, have become better at stopping progress than enabling it. These forces create a different kind of climate denial by generating public fatigue and scepticism that solutions can never be found. Here in Belém, we need that to change,” he stated.
The Head of State added that the solution is not to dismiss COPs but to fix the machinery of cooperation so that good ideas can move forward.
“We are at a hopeful moment if we choose to grasp the opportunities before us. People everywhere, and in particular, the people of the developing world, are offering practical, experience-based solutions. If we commit ourselves to shun extremism and instead promote collaboration, if we make our bureaucracies accelerate innovation, not trap it, and if we unleash the financing options that are affordable and available, then more than 30 years after you, Belém will be the turning point when the world moves from promises to progress,” President Ali declared.