In an interview with AFP and other news agencies, Lula, 80, promised the "best COP yet" as he prepares to host 50 heads of state at a meeting on Thursday and Friday in the rainforest city of Belem, before COP30 gets underway next week.
The arrival of around 50,000 visitors in Belem has created chaos around accommodation, with soaring prices prompting concerns that many from poorer nations are being excluded.
"When we decided to hold COP here... we already knew the conditions of the city. And we decided to do it here because we didn't want comforts, we wanted challenges. And we wanted the world to come and see the Amazon," said Lula.
He said the friendliness and local cuisine would make all visitors feel at home and that they would "leave a little fatter because they will eat well."
In the interview, Lula touched on a range of hot topics, from US attacks on alleged drug-trafficking boats in Venezuela, to Brazil's efforts to get Washington to lift trade tariffs.
He also described a police operation against a powerful drug gang in Rio de Janeiro that left 121 dead as a "massacre," even as many crime-weary residents have welcomed the raid against a heavily armed group that controls large swathes of the city.
Here are excerpts from the interview, edited for clarity.
Q: Climate action is facing one of its toughest moments, with nations distracted by trade wars and conflict, and scientific warnings that the planet could exceed the 1.5C warming target. How can we avoid failure at this COP?
A: "I'm sure we'll have the best COP yet. We want to see if it's possible to launch a new phase of implementation for the COP, because here's the thing: enough talking, now we have to implement what we've already discussed."
Q: What will be Brazil's priorities at COP30?
A: "We want to approve the Tropical Forest Forever Fund (TFFF), which is an investment fund. Brazil has already deposited US$1 billion. It will finance countries that keep their forests standing.
"We want to create an Environment Council, linked to the UN, with a bit more power, so that when a decision is made here, that council can travel the world monitoring the results.
"We also want to propose a roadmap for reducing fossil fuels. To start a discussion about it. It's not easy."
Q: Brazil's government has been accused of contradictions in its environmental policy with the recent approval of an oil exploration project near the mouth of the Amazon River. How do you justify the decision?
A: "It would be inconsistent if I said we're not going to use any more oil. If we discover the oil we believe we have, we'll have to start from scratch to obtain an (exploitation) license. And you can be sure of one thing: we will do it as carefully as possible. We will not put at risk something we consider beneficial to humanity (the Amazon)."
Q: Are you concerned about the US operation against alleged drug boats near the Venezuelan coast?
A: "The Americans could try to help these countries (in the fight against drug trafficking), instead of trying to shoot them. I don't want us to reach the point of a US ground invasion of Venezuela.
"I told President Trump... that political problems are not solved with weapons -- they are solved through dialogue. If dialogue is lacking, I offered my assistance in any way they believe Brazil can help."
Q: Last month, you met with US President (Donald) Trump in Kuala Lumpur and expressed optimism about quickly resolving the issue of US tariffs imposed on Brazil. How are those negotiations progressing?
A: "There was an initial meeting. And now (several government ministers) are prepared to schedule another one. If it happens, they will go to Washington to negotiate.
"But by the time COP ends, if there still hasn't been a meeting, I'll have no problem calling President Trump, or going to Washington. I hope he won't have any problem coming to Brazil either."
Q: How do you view last week's police operation in Rio that killed 121 people and sparked outrage from the UN and other organizations?
A: "There was a massacre, and I think it's important to verify the circumstances under which it occurred. So far, we only have the state government's version, and there are people who want to know if everything happened as they say. From the perspective of the role of the state, (the operation) was disastrous."
Brazil's climate wins ahead of COP30
Brasilia (AFP) Nov 5, 2025 -
Brazil's president has slashed deforestation in the Amazon and worked to better protect Indigenous people, bolstering his environmental credentials as he prepares to host COP30 UN climate talks in a month.
However, veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva faces a strong agribusiness lobby in congress that has tried to weaken environmental laws.
The president has also enraged green activists with his support for the expansion of oil production, with state oil firm Petrobras getting a license last month for exploratory drilling near the mouth of the Amazon River.
This is what experts say he is doing right:
- Brazil's climate comeback -
The 80-year-old returned to office after years of rampant Amazon deforestation under his climate-skeptic predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.
"Brazil is back," he declared at COP27 in Egypt shortly after his re-election. He received a rock star's welcome as he pledged to protect a rainforest with billions of carbon-absorbing trees that are a key buffer against global warming.
Lula announced plans to host COP30 in the Amazon itself so world leaders could get a first-hand look at one of Earth's richest ecosystems.
Another strong message was Lula's choice of environment minister, Marina Silva -- who cut deforestation dramatically during his first term.
The pair have previously feuded over the clash between development goals and environmental protection.
They set about rebuilding Brazil's environmental agencies and Lula also reactivated the Amazon Fund, an international financing mechanism to protect the forest that had been suspended under Bolsonaro.
On Monday, a report showed Brazil had recorded its biggest annual fall in greenhouse gas emissions in 15 years, due to a decrease in deforestation.
- Slowing forest loss -
Lula pledged zero deforestation by 2030.
In the last year of Bolsonaro's presidency in 2022, deforestation reached more than 10,000 square kilometers (3,861 square miles) -- an area about the size of the country of Lebanon.
Last week the government said deforestation had fallen for the fourth straight year, with 5,796 square kilometers (2,238 square miles) of native vegetation destroyed between August 2024 and July 2025.
Joao Paulo Capobianco, executive secretary in the environment ministry, said that if it were not for one of the country's worst waves of forest fires on record in 2024, the country likely would have had the lowest recorded deforestation rates in its history.
The flames, often linked to agricultural activity, grew out of control amid a historic drought linked to climate change.
Forest loss also slowed in other sensitive biomes like the Cerrado, a vast region of tropical savannah in central Brazil.
- Indigenous lands -
Indigenous lands are seen as a key barrier to Amazon deforestation.
Lula created an Indigenous people's ministry and legalized 16 Indigenous reserves during his third term -- a process that had been paralyzed under previous governments.
Marcio Astrini of the Climate Observatory, a collective of NGOs, said the demarcation of Indigenous lands was particularly important in case a climate-sceptic candidate wins 2026 presidential elections.
"A new government can withdraw funding from climate policies, but it won't be able to undo a protected Indigenous area," he told AFP.
Government policies also expelled invaders from more than 180,000 square kilometers (about 69,500 square miles) of Indigenous lands -- an area slightly smaller than Uruguay -- according to the state Indigenous affairs agency Funai.
Local populations "regained freedom to move around, resume hunting...they recovered their territory," Nilton Tubino, coordinator of Indigenous policies for the federal government in the northern Amazon state of Roraima, told AFP.
- Financing forest protection -
Brazil's government has also designed a global initiative to finance the conservation of endangered forests.
"We want to approve the Tropical Forest Forever Fund (TFFF), which is an investment fund. Brazil has already deposited US$1 billion. It will finance countries that keep their forests standing," Lula told AFP and other news agencies in an interview Tuesday.
Authorities envision the TFFF as a fund of more than $100 billion in public and private capital.
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