BELEM, Brazil (AP) — World leaders gathering in a coastal city in the Brazilian Amazon for the U.N.‘s annual climate summit hope it’s a rare opportunity to turn previous commitments into practical steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, preserve rainforests and make good on pledges to finance clean energy. But the heads of the world’s three biggest polluters — China, the United States and India — are notably absent from the preliminary leaders’ gathering that kicked off Thursday. Brazil’s left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva warned in a speech that the window to act is rapidly closing. Some Latin American leaders and activists called out Trump for failing to act on climate change.

By Isabel Debre and Mauricio Savarese, Associated Press

Banner image: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva addresses a plenary session of the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit in Belem, Brazil, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)