From the UN email alert system:
Update:
The Host Country Fire Chief has ordered the evacuation of the entire premises. The Fire Service will conduct full safety checks and is expected to provide an update at 4:00 PM.
Please note that the premises are now under the authority of the Host Country and are no longer considered a Blue Zone.
UNFCCC
#
Fire at COP30 – UN Climate Summit in Brazil! pic.twitter.com/AddFXcPHlJ
— Marc Morano (@ClimateDepot) November 20, 2025
After dozens of firefighters battled the Cop30 blaze it has been contained, according to Brazil’s tourism minister, Celso Sabino, speaking to a local news channel.
Forensic teams will try to establish how the fire started but he said he doubts it was criminal.
“You’d have to be a really awful person to set fire to a Cop,” he tells reporters.
Officials are also reporting that there were no injuries from the fire and that everyone was safely evacuated. The building has taken some damage, however, and it will be several hours before attendees will be allowed back in.
The fire has added even more urgency to deliberations as time ticks down to come to agreement – but it has also brought the issues themselves into sharper focus.
“The tragic fire at COP30, which has derailed UN Climate Conference, the People’s Plenary, and obstructed the negotiations is unfortunately a potent metaphor,” US-based activist Jes Vesconte said, speaking with my colleague Dharna Noor.
“As capitalist fossil fuel companies, imperialist countries, and militarist powers block the talks here (or in abstentia in the case of the US) — they are putting profits over planet and people, profiteering off ecocide, genocide and countless deaths, at the expense of all life on Earth, and pouring fuel on the fire of the burning planet.”
#
COP30 is literally on fire right now in Belem, Brazil. @realDonaldTrump, @ClimateDepot https://t.co/l7w9XkuSsQ
— Alex Newman (@ALEXNEWMAN_JOU) November 20, 2025
#
❗️⚠️ – BREAKING: Fire Breaks Out in Pavilion at COP30 Climate Conference in Belém, Brazil
A fire was reported on Thursday, November 20, in one of the pavilions hosting the COP30 UN Climate Change Conference in Belém, Pará, Brazil. Security personnel ordered the immediate… pic.twitter.com/qZB7zvtzwz
— The Informant (@theinformant_x) November 20, 2025
