Syria’s new president pledges climate cooperation at COP30 in Brazil

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa made his debut on the world stage at the UN COP30 climate summit in Brazil, pledging to back global efforts to curb climate change, a symbolic moment signalling Damascus’s return to international diplomacy after more than a decade of isolation.

Speaking on Thursday in the Amazonian host city, al-Sharaa said Syria was “fully committed” to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and urged international partners to invest in renewable energy as part of the country’s post-war reconstruction. He called Syria’s recovery plan “ambitious” and said it aimed to rebuild infrastructure “on green foundations”.

Acknowledging the scale of Syria’s challenges after 14 years of civil war, al-Sharaa pointed to “a drought unlike any it has seen in over six decades” as proof that climate resilience must be part of the country’s rebuilding strategy.

“We must strengthen bonds of cooperation from the Amazon to the Barada and Euphrates rivers,” he told delegates, framing climate action as a bridge between North and South.

The summit appearance came just hours after the UN Security Council voted to lift long-standing sanctions on al-Sharaa and his interior minister, a move pushed through by Washington. The resolution ended travel restrictions, an asset freeze, and an arms embargo dating back to the Bashar al-Assad era.

Al-Sharaa, who led the opposition offensive that toppled Assad last December, is expected to visit Washington next week for talks with US President Donald Trump. The White House skipped sending senior officials to COP30 after Trump dismissed climate change at the UN General Assembly as the “world’s greatest con job”.