World Leaders Slam Trump As COP30 Climate Summit Opens

World leaders tore into US President Donald Trump for rejecting climate science as the COP30 summit opened in Belém, Brazil — with the leaders of Colombia and Chile calling him a “liar” over his claims that global warming is a hoax.

 

Trump, who skipped the summit, recently told the UN that climate change was “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” insisting that industrialized nations should “reject the globalist concept” of emissions cuts. His comments sparked fury among environmental leaders and Latin American presidents, who accused him of undermining decades of global climate cooperation.

 

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer acknowledged that the once-solid global consensus on climate action “is gone,” though he insisted the UK remains “all-in.” Yet, Britain stunned allies by pulling out of Brazil’s new $125 billion rainforest protection fund, which aims to raise $25 billion from wealthy nations. Former UK environment minister Lord Zac Goldsmith said Brazil was “furious,” calling the UK withdrawal a betrayal of its COP26 commitments.

 

Prince William, speaking at the summit, praised the rainforest fund as “a visionary step” and urged leaders to act with “urgent optimism.” Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva condemned “extremist forces that fabricate fake news” about climate change, a thinly veiled reference to Trump.

 

The summit comes amid mounting global disasters, including Hurricane Melissa — one of the Caribbean’s strongest storms on record — whose rainfall was amplified by climate change, according to Imperial College researchers.

 

Despite fiery rhetoric, progress remains elusive: only a handful of nations have updated carbon-cutting plans, and the world’s biggest emitters — the US, China, Russia, and India — are all absent from COP30.

 

Key Takeaways:

• Trump blasted as “liar” by Latin American leaders over climate denial.

• UK shocks allies by pulling out of $125 billion rainforest fund.

• COP30 opens amid deadly storms and fading global unity on climate action.

 

Source: BBC