UN secretary general António Guterres urges opening session in Brazil to bring about a ‘paradigm shift’

• Triple-whammy of hottest ever years risks ‘irreversible damage’, says UN

The failure to limit global heating to 1.5C is a “moral failure and deadly negligence”, the UN secretary general has said at the opening session of the Cop30 climate summit in the Brazilian city of Belém.

António Guterres said even a temporary overshoot would have “dramatic consequences. It could push ecosystems past catastrophic tipping points, expose billions to unliveable conditions and amplify threats to peace and security.”

Report calls for scaling-up of renewable energy and electrification of key sectors to limit peak of global heating

There is still a chance for the world to avoid the worst ravages of climate breakdown and return to the goal of 1.5C if governments take concerted action on greenhouse gas emissions, a new assessment argues.

The Climate Analytics report says governments’ goals are inadequate and need to be rapidly revised, and calls for the rapid scaling-up of the use of renewable energy and electrification of key sectors including transport, heating and industry.

Decision is bitter blow to Brazil ahead of fund’s launch at Cop30 – and an embarrassment to Prince William

• ‘We’re leading the way’: Starmer defends plans for green economy before Cop30

The UK will not contribute to a flagship fund for the world’s remaining tropical forests, in a bitter blow to the Brazilian hosts on the eve of the Cop30 climate summit.

Keir Starmer flew to Belém, at the mouth of the Amazon, on Wednesday to join the summit of world leaders hosted by Brazil’s president, Lula da Silva.

PM defies critics calling for a slowdown as he flies to Brazil, where he may have frosty reception after opting out of tropical forest fund

• UK opts out of flagship fund to protect Amazon and other threatened tropical forests

The UK will lead on tackling the climate crisis, the prime minister vowed on Wednesday, despite critics calling for a slowdown, because shifting to a low-carbon economy will cut bills, boost economic growth and bring national renewal.

But his words risked being overshadowed by a bitter row over funding for tropical forest preservation at the UN Cop30 climate conference.

Report to be discussed at Cop30 says global agreements should target carbon intensive activities and ‘ultra high net worth individuals’

New taxes on the super-rich, fossil fuels, financial transactions and highly polluting and carbon-intensive activities should be explored as key ways of raising the finance needed to help poor countries, governments have been told in an influential report.

The proposal is one of the top recommendations of a new blueprint for global climate finance, the Baku to Belém roadmap, drawn up by the governments of Brazil and Azerbaijan, the current and the previous president of the UN climate Cop process.