Former German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock and incumbent Environment Minister Carsten Schneider are expected at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Brazil over the weekend.
Baerbock, who is now president of the UN General Assembly, plans to participate in several discussion rounds and events at the COP30 in the city of Belém in the Amazon region starting on Saturday.
In previous years, she led the negotiations at climate conferences for Germany as the foreign minister responsible for international climate policy, but she is no longer involved in the main negotiations.
At the start of her visit, Baerbock described the climate crisis as “the greatest threat of our time,” despite the many wars and conflicts around the world.
“Some 3.6 billion people – almost half the world’s population – are already severely threatened by the consequences of climate change: droughts, floods, extreme heat and growing food insecurity,” she told dpa.
This was intensifying “the vicious cycle of hunger, poverty, displacement, instability and conflict,” Baerbock added.
She said that international cooperation remains essential because “CO2 doesn’t stop at borders.”
Baerbock also stressed that poorer countries, which contribute least but are hit hardest, need greater support, noting that a single hurricane can wipe out decades of development in some island states.
Environment Minister Schneider is responsible for the German negotiating line, and he is also expected in Belém on Saturday.
Before entering the decisive phase of the negotiations, Schneider plans to meet over the weekend members of the Quilombola community, who live in and from the rainforest. Additionally, he intends to visit a nature reserve in the region.
