Lula Revives 2009 China Climate Dispute as He Presses Rich Nations at COP31

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has challenged developed countries to confront two centuries of industrial pollution before blaming China for climate failures, revisiting an argument he says he made at the 2009 Copenhagen summit.

Speaking to civil society groups at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, on Thursday, Lula used that recollection to press wealthy nations to take part in the talks and to invest in forest conservation.

Lula Revisits Copenhagen Dispute

Lula recalled COP15 in 2009, when he said developed countries tried to pin a failed climate deal on China while overlooking their own historical emissions.

“You are blaming China. But you have 200 years of industrial revolution polluting the planet. Are you going to pay for this dispute you have with the planet? Because if you don’t pay, you don’t have the moral authority to hold China accountable.”

The remarks in Antalya were Lula’s retelling of that Copenhagen position, not a new accusation aimed at China. Exame, Poder360 and Correio Braziliense placed the line inside his account of the 2009 talks. No contemporaneous transcript was cited to confirm the exact wording from Copenhagen.

Brazil Claims Greater Climate Authority

Lula presented Brazil’s environmental record as the basis for demanding more from industrialized economies.

“No Brazilian needs to go to any climate meeting with their head down. Nobody has more authority than us.”

Brazilian officials have cited a 42% cut in greenhouse-gas emissions since 2005 alongside economic growth, and a sharp drop in Amazon deforestation. Lula also pointed to climate roadmaps from COP30 in Belém.

Lula Calls on Trump and Macron

He called out rich-country leaders by name, including U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron.

“I want to see the presidents of rich countries. I want to see Trump. I want to see Macron, Germany, France, Portugal... I want to see them participate now.”

Trump and China’s Xi Jinping did not attend the COP31 leaders’ summit in person; Beijing sent Vice President Han Zheng.

At the November 11 opening session, Lula criticized governments for talking more about “weapons and tariffs” than the survival of future generations and pressed for $1.3 trillion a year in climate finance for developing countries from 2035.

Forest Finance Takes Center Stage

Lula defended the Tropical Forests Forever Facility as an investment, not a handout, saying developed countries would earn a return while forest nations would receive funds to care for forests “with authority.”

The Expo Antalya meeting was his last major engagement of the visit. Civil society groups pressed for zero deforestation and Indigenous land demarcation, and Lula said Brazil had a “moral obligation” to convene a further fossil-fuel meeting, without setting a date.