UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer tells world leaders at climate talks in Brazil that the "consensus is gone" on fighting climate change
Speaking ahead of COP30 Prince William says the Earth is "edging dangerously close to tipping point", adding the threat of climate change is "fast approaching"
Starmer struck a more sombre tone on climate change than Prince William, but UK remains "all in", writes our climate editor
It is now "virtually impossible" to keep to the international target of limiting global warming of 1.5C, the UN says
UN chief António Guterres says it is a result of "moral failure and deadly negligence" – what is the 1.5C goal?
But US President Donald Trump, who is not present at the climate conference, has received some criticism
Edited by Matt Spivey and Mark Poynting in London, with reporting from Esme Stallard, Matt McGrath and Justin Rowlatt in Belém
Elliot Burrin
Live reporter
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Prince William shake hands with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Today's summit of world leaders has made one thing clear – there is a lot of frustration and concern about the direction climate change is heading.
The UN says it's now "virtually impossible" to stick to the international target of limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
And, 2025 is set to be one of the hottest years on record.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned that the "consensus is gone" on fighting climate change, but that the UK was still "all in". Prince William called for "urgent optimism" and unity between nations.
China – the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases – urged world leaders to "strengthen international collaboration".
Meanwhile, despite him not being present at the conference, multiple countries' leaders have taken aim at US President Donald Trump, accusing him of telling lies and working against human kind.
We're now ending our live coverage, but you can keep up to date with all the latest updates in our news story.
And, stay tuned across the BBC, as Monday will see the start of two weeks of discussion at COP30 in Belém, Brazil.
Mark Poynting
Climate reporter
As US President Trump withdraws from the global climate fight, the spotlight turns to China.
China is the world's biggest emitter of planet-warming gases today – though the US still emits more per person – and is heavily reliant on coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel.
But China is also way ahead of other countries on clean energy, particularly wind and solar – a divide our climate editor Justin Rowlatt highlighted earlier.
Belém, Brazil, sets the stage for COP30 – a fitting location as it's embedded within the dense, deep green of the Amazon rainforest
The EU's President Ursula Von der Leyen arrived at the summit with an EU-wide carbon cutting plan – a 80% cut in the EU's emissions
Host nation Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva says "COP30 will be the COP of truth", encouraging participating countries not to abandon the 1.5C warming limit set out in the Paris Agreement
UK Prime Minister Starmer warned that the "consensus is gone" on climate change, as Prince William said threats are "fast approaching" – but that the UK remains committed to working against it
With COP being hosted in Brazil, there's been calls for the conference to focus on saving tropical forests.
But ahead of the conference, the UK government said it would not commit public money to Brazil's flagship plan to protect the rainforests.
Brazil's Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) aims to raise $125 billion (£95bn) for governments and local communities to protect existing forest areas – like the Amazon and Congo basin.
Zac Goldsmith, who was Environment Secretary when the TFFF was being set up, said on X that Starmer has "pulled the plug" on supporting "the first realistic mechanism to save the world's forests".
The government says the UK will continue to support the scheme and hasn't ruled out investing public funds in the future – but says it will encourage the private finance sector to support TFFF instead.Mark Poynting
Climate reporter
Put simply, it's the biggest climate conference of the year.
It's the main forum where governments gather to discuss how to tackle the threats of rapidly rising temperatures.
COP stands for "Conference of the Parties". "Parties" refers to the nearly 200 countries that have signed up to the original UN climate agreement of 1992.
This year's conference – the 30th annual meeting – takes place at a time when global climate targets are under considerable strain, as we reported earlier.
There has been significant progress in ramping up clean energy, but emissions of planet-warming gases remain at record highs.
And, as our climate editor Justin Rowlatt reports, US President Donald Trump's repeated attacks on climate action are looming large.
Esme Stallard
Climate reporter in Belém
The forest COP is how this year's climate summit has been nicknamed and, so far, it has not disappointed.
I flew into Belém from São Paulo yesterday, which is four hours south, and for the last hour of the flight all you see below you is forest – the dense, deep green of the Amazon.
Just minutes away you can barely believe there is a city here at all, and then suddenly it appears along the shoreline. For someone used to the oak and beech forests of the UK, nothing can prepare you for the scale of the trees here,100ft (30m) high towering above the city’s buildings.
But to the east you can see the predictable squares of agricultural fields and industrial activity abutting right up against the world’s largest tropical forest.
It is in part this juxtaposition that Belém was chosen to host COP30 – to focus leaders’ minds on the importance of protecting our environment and what happens if you don’t.Mark Poynting
Climate reporter
The climate has changed naturally throughout the Earth's history.
But natural causes cannot explain the particularly rapid warming seen over the last century, according to the UN's climate body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
This has been without doubt caused by human activities, in particular the widespread use of fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – in homes, factories and transport systems.
When fossil fuels burn, they release greenhouse gases – mostly carbon dioxide (CO2). This CO2 acts like a blanket, trapping extra energy in the atmosphere near the Earth's surface. This causes the planet to heat up.
Since the start of the Industrial Revolution – when humans started burning large amounts of fossil fuels – the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has risen by more than 50%, far above levels seen in the Earth's recent history.
The CO2 released from burning fossil fuels, has a distinctive chemical fingerprint. This matches the type of CO2 increasingly found in the atmosphere.
For more on climate change, read our explainer. 
Justin Rowlatt
Climate editor in Belém
President Trump hasn’t just withdrawn the US from the climate fight – he’s now playing for the other side.
He’s made American energy “dominance,” driven by aggressive fossil fuel expansion, the core of his agenda.
Beyond quitting the landmark Paris Agreement and dismantling clean energy policies, he’s used tariffs to pressure other nations – including Europe, Japan, and South Korea – to buy more US oil and gas.
His approach sets America against China, which is chasing energy leadership through clean technologies – wind, solar, electric vehicles, and batteries.
The divide has added a new dimension to the climate debate: it’s now a geopolitical contest, pitting the world’s superpowers for control of the planet’s most critical industry.
The outcome will help determine our future climate.Justin Rowlatt
Climate editor in Belém
Addressing the UN in September President Trump called climate change the "greatest con job"
US President Donald Trump has said he won’t send any high-level officials to COP30 – perhaps no delegation at all – but that doesn’t mean he won’t try to torpedo the talks.
Trump has long mocked “pathetic” renewables and has called climate change a “con job".
On his first day in office, he used his Sharpie to declare the US would pull out of the Paris Agreement.
Last month we learned how far Washington will go to protect fossil fuels. The UN’s International Maritime Organization was poised to adopt a global carbon levy, a decade in the making.
At the last moment, the US, backed by Saudi Arabia, sank the deal with tariff and visa threats.
The message: America will do what it can to undermine any consensus on climate action.
US President Donald Trump is not attending the climate talks in Brazil
It's been a common theme in speeches so far for world leaders to use their speeches ahead of COP30 to hit out at Donald Trump.
The US president is not attending the conference in Belém, Brazil, but his name has come up more than once.
Chile's President Gabriel Boric said Trump told a "lie" when he said the climate crisis doesn't exist.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said "Mr Trump is against human kind."
He adds: "We can see the collapse that can happen if the US does not decarbonise their economy. He is 100% wrong, the president of the US Donald Trump."
And, our environment correspondent reports that Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva hit out at Trump. Matt McGrath writes that, while not naming Trump directly, the Brazilian leader hit out at "forces that fabricate fake news on climate for political gain.”
In our next post we'll take a closer look at Trump's influence on climate action.
Justin Rowlatt and Esme Stallard
Reporting in Belém
The Prince of Wales passionately called on leaders to tap into what he called “the power of urgent optimism”.
Starmer, following Prince William, took a more sombre tone declaring that “consensus is gone” on climate. But he did say the UK remained “all in” on the issue.
Yet, when it came to one of the signature policies of this conference – a $125bn fund to help countries keep their tropical forests standing – Starmer said sorry, but with the UK facing a cost-of-living crisis, he wouldn’t be adding a penny to the pot.
This will likely disappoint Prince William who has called the fund “the most ambitious forest protection fund in history" and shortlisted it for his £1m Earthshot prize this year.
Ending his speech, Starmer did acknowledge the importance of the Amazon rainforest in “helping to regulate the climate for every person on earth and it reminds us that this is a truly collective endeavour”.
But the phrase action speaks louder than words springs to mind.Mark Poynting
Climate reporter
We've just heard from several world leaders, and Prince William, about the fast approaching threats of climate change.
Here's where the world currently stands on tackling climate change:
Ten years ago in Paris, nearly 200 countries pledged to keep global temperature rises "well below" 2C above pre-industrial levels and to try to limit warming to 1.5C.
Nations agreed that meeting the Paris targets would greatly reduce the impacts of climate change.
At the time, the world was on course for global warming of nearly 4C.
Since then, there’s been considerable progress – but not enough.
Based on current policies, the world could be on course for about 2.8C of warming compared with the late 1800s, according to figures released this week by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
And even if the new, more ambitious pledges made by countries ahead of COP30 were implemented, warming could reach 2.3–2.5C, UNEP says.
That’s even without accounting for the US rolling back on its commitments.
So it’s no surprise that the UN is calling for “rapid and unprecedented cuts” to emissions “far above what has been pledged” if the Paris goals are to be met.
That’s quite a task for the world leaders in Brazil today.
Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent in Belém
The EU’s Ursula Von der Leyen arrived in Belem for the leader’s summit today bearing an important gift – a newly-agreed, painfully negotiated, EU wide carbon cutting plan.
But the shiny new document has already come in for a pasting from critics. While the headline figure of a 90% cut in emissions by 2040 was supported by a qualified majority, it needed a significant compromise from supporters.
They had to agree to allow countries to use carbon credits from overseas for 5% of that total, with another 5% to be discussed.
This potentially means just an 80% cut in the EU’s emissions. Still world leading, but further evidence that commitments to climate action are not what they once were.
The “consensus is gone” on fighting climate change, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer tells world leaders at climate talks in Belém.
The UK is doubling down on the fight against climate change, Starmer says, adding that "this is a truly collective endeavour".
The prime minister reflects that 10 years ago countries agreed to try to limit global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial times.
“The only question was how fast could we go?” he tells the conference. “Today sadly that consensus is gone.”
That includes in the UK itself, where opponents have branded net zero too difficult and expensive to achieve.
He describes green policies however as a “win-win”.
“The greater our collective ambition, the more progress we make in tackling the climate crisis, and the greater the opportunities we create,” he says.
Prince William says he grew up talking with his father, King Charles, about "the power of nature and the importance of harmony in the natural world".
It's a privilege to represent him here today, he adds.
"All of us here today understand that we are edging dangerously close to the Earth's critical tipping points, thresholds beyond which the natural systems we depend on may begin to unravel."
He adds that threats are "fast approaching" and will affect everyone, no matter where they live.
No corner of the globe will be unaffected"
Prince William
Prince William is now speaking, he says the world is at "a moment that demands courage, cooperation and unwavering commitment to our planet’s future."
William says a decade after the landmark Paris Agreement, "we are reminded of the extraordinary power of nations, communities, and individuals coming together to drive change."
"When we unite behind shared purpose, we can scale and accelerate solutions that transcend borders.
"Solutions that give us hope, and fill us with optimism, for the future," he adds.
Prince William is making his way on stage in Belem, Brazil, to address world leaders at climate talks.
You can watch live at the top of this page.
Stay with us for the latest updates.
China's Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang tells world leaders "we need to remove trade barriers" and "strengthen international collaboration" to reach global sustainable targets.
"We should translate climate commitment into actions," he says .
He says developed countries should take the lead in reducing emissions, and provide more support and technology to developing countries.
China is the world's biggest emitter of planet-warming gases but says it will reduce its emissions by 7-10% by 2035 in a recent landmark pledge.
China is ready to work with all parties"
China's Vice Premier Ding XuexiangMatt McGrath
Environment correspondent, reporting from Belém
In a wide-ranging, passionate speech, Brazilian President Lula hit out at what he called the “extremist forces that fabricate fake news on climate for political gain.”
Whilst not naming President Trump directly, the Brazilian leader said the window for action was closing fast, and the actions of those who deny the truth about climate change were condemning future generations to a planet forever altered by rising temperatures.
The impact of climate change on Brazil has been highlighted today by a new study from Christian Aid showing the country’s GDP growth could be reduced by a third by the end of this century from a warming planet.
Malu Cursino
Live reporter
Brazil's president says fighting climate change should be a priority for each government and each person in the planet.
"We need to overcome the mismatch of the lack of connection between diplomatic dialogue and "the actual world," he says.
It will take a collective effort, listening to indigenous communities and those bearing the brunt of climate change. It'll take a global "mutirão" approach.
The term “mutirão”, originally from the indigenous Tupi-Guarani language, is a tricky word to translate into English but very simple to understand in Brazil.
It is more of a feeling and loosely translates to "collective efforts". It was adopted by the COP30 presidency as a slogan to encourage climate action worldwide from all sectors of society, in particular civic society and grassroots organisations.
President Lula goes on to say we also have to overcome inequalities, and the "opportunity window" to act is "closing quickly".
"Climate change is the result of the same dynamics that during centuries has broken our societies between rich and poor," he adds, "climate justice is allied with fighting hunger and poverty, the struggle against racism, gender inequality".
Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.