Brazil: UN regional group approves Amazon city to host 2025 climate conference

SAO PAULO — The Brazilian government announced on Friday that a United Nations regional group for Latin America has approved a Brazilian city in the Amazon region to host the 2025 United Nations climate change conference, although the global body does not has not yet publicly confirmed the location.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva initially said Brazil would hold the conference, known as COP 30, in the city of Belém, Para state, deep in the Brazilian rainforest, reflecting its intention to attract the pay attention to the Amazon.

A statement from the Brazilian government later clarified that the region’s support was only one step in the selection process. The “support for Brazil’s candidacy demonstrates the region’s confidence in Brazil’s ability to advance the agenda in the fight against climate change,” the statement read.

The last UN climate conference was hosted by Egypt in Sharm el-Sheikh, and this year’s will be in Dubai.

The UN has yet to announce the location for 2024, let alone 2025, but locations tend to rotate between regions, and the Brazilian government’s statement on Friday said a Latin American task force is choosing the place of 2025 and had approved Belem. The final decision will not be made until COP 29 next year.

“It will be an honor for Brazil to welcome representatives from all over the world to a state in our Amazon,” Lula said in a video posted on his social media. “I’ve been to the COPs in Egypt, in Paris, in Copenhagen, and all we talk about is the Amazon. So I said, ‘Why don’t we go over there so you guys can see what the Amazon is like?’

Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira says in the video that the decision was made at the UN on May 18. The UN has yet to confirm the location.

Brazil’s announcement comes in a week that the Lula administration’s environmental governance has faced headwinds from Brazil’s congress. Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a measure that eroded the environment ministry’s authority over construction in forest and coastal areas, as well as other developments.

Also this week, congress is debating whether the state-owned oil giant should be allowed to drill off the coasts of the Amazon states of Amapa and Para.