Today was largely a day of story-telling narratives, with many leaders described the ways in which extreme weather is wreaking havoc in their home countries. For example, Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said, “In Brazil, the climate emergency is already a reality. The Amazon region is going through an unprecedented drought. The level of the rivers is the lowest in 120 years. I could never imagine that this would happen in a place where we have the greatest reservoir of fresh water of the world.”
However, there were some positive signs. One of the primary discussion topics of the day was reformation of the global financial system in order to lower barriers preventing developing countries from accessing financing for efforts to combat and adapt to climate change. This corresponds to the sticking point that help up the loss and damage fund for eight years: distrust of the World Bank.