\n<\/p>\n
I<\/span>n a month, this year\u2019s UN climate summit, Cop30, begins in Bel\u00e9m, Brazil \u2013 preceded by a key leaders\u2019 meeting. It is a crucial moment. The UN\u2019s scientists have yet to publish calculations based on the latest round of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) \u2013 as countries\u2019 emissions pledges are known. But Brazil\u2019s\u00a0president, Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva, has called leaders together because it is already clear that the current emissions pledges are nowhere near enough. The Paris 1.5C threshold was crossed last year. Without stronger action, that temporary breach will become irreversible \u2013 with devastating consequences for people and planet.<\/p>\n Lula\u2019s diplomatic outreach to Donald Trump, who calls the climate crisis a \u201ccon job\u201d, suggests he is trying to bring key players into the fold ahead of Bel\u00e9m. Having heavyweights in the room can make all the difference. Ten years ago in Paris, world leaders\u2019 presence proved crucial to securing an ambitious deal. That\u2019s why it is important that Sir Keir Starmer attends. He may not be the most powerful world leader, but his presence is a moral and diplomatic imperative. If King\u00a0Charles is able to, he ought to go too. Soft power can help to rebuild the spirit of cooperation to keep the\u00a0hopes in the Paris agreement alive.<\/p>\n The UK is one of the world\u2019s biggest polluters historically, due to its early industrialisation and its empire. But the climate policies of the last two decades have been ambitious compared with other wealthy countries, and the UK\u2019s NDC is one of the few that climate analysts regard as helping to keep the 1.5C goal in view. All of which makes it even more important that Sir Keir should be in Brazil, in person, standing up for evidence-based policy in multilateral climate talks.<\/p>\n Cop30 comes at a fraught moment for climate politics in Britain. The Tories\u2019 promise to repeal the Climate Change Act was populist posturing, aimed at pandering to an anti-science, Trumpian right. Labour must not flinch. It has been reported that Sir Keir\u2019s aides are advising against going to Bel\u00e9m, fearing backlash from Reform UK. Retreat would be cowardly and wrong. Sir Keir should instead reaffirm his commitment to national targets and the\u00a0Cop process \u2013 confident that shifting to renewable energy is both right and popular.<\/p>\n Sir Keir is, of course, not the only leader who\u00a0should be making travel plans. The leaders of\u00a0Australia and Canada both made climate policies\u00a0part of their pitches to voters in recent elections. They too should be heading for Bel\u00e9m, as should the leaders of the EU, China, India and Japan. As the former UN secretary general Ban\u00a0Ki-moon noted, attendance is not ceremonial but a\u00a0test of leadership. He warned that the world was watching \u2013 and said that history would remember who showed up.<\/p>\n Mr Trump\u2019s election win was a dangerous setback\u00a0to the global green energy transition. But 33 years after the Brazilian Earth Summit that set the process going, he is also a reason for other governments to step up. Perhaps Lula could even convince Mr Trump to change his mind? If there was ever a time to show that the climate is a diplomatic priority, this is it. Sir Keir must not leave the question of his attendance hanging any longer. He\u00a0must decide \u2013 and go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In a month, this year\u2019s UN climate summit, Cop30, begins in Bel\u00e9m, Brazil \u2013 preceded by a key leaders\u2019 meeting. It is a crucial moment. The UN\u2019s scientists have yet to publish calculations based on the latest round of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) \u2013 as countries\u2019 emissions pledges are known. But Brazil\u2019s\u00a0president, Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[3903,3160,9976,1516,1510,16052,1025,1347,415,1511],"class_list":{"0":"post-26784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-announce","9":"tag-brazil","10":"tag-cop30","11":"tag-editorial","12":"tag-guardian","13":"tag-havering","14":"tag-hes","15":"tag-starmer","16":"tag-stop","17":"tag-view"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}