Here in Brazil at the COP30 climate summit, Jamaica is leading calls from vulnerable nations, like Mauritius and Cuba, to urge wealthier countries to cut emissions to help limit the effects of global warming. On Monday, Matthew Samuda, Jamaica’s economic minister, cited the devastating financial impact of Hurricane Melissa.

Matthew Samuda: “Preliminary estimates place damages around $10 billion U.S., or approximately a third, or just under a third, of our GDP. No small island state can absorb losses of this magnitude. Excellencies, Jamaicans are resilient, but resilience must not be defined as surviving the unbearable. We did not create this crisis, but we refuse to stand as victims. We choose action.”

Meanwhile, the Center for International Environmental Law identified over 500 carbon capture and storage lobbyists attending COP30. The center said in a statement,”The fossil fuel industry has found in AI’s energy demand a new narrative to justify its survival — and in carbon capture, the perfect illusion. Carbon capture and storage cannot make fossil fuels 'clean'; it just keeps them burning. It doesn’t curb emissions; it locks them in.” We’ll have more from the COP30 climate summit here in Belém, Brazil, after headlines.