Lula met the British monarch at Buckingham Palace in London on Friday evening, on the eve of the coronation ceremony.
“The first thing the king told me was that I have to preserve the Amazon,” Lula told a press conference in London.
“I told him: I need help,” added the Brazilian leader, whose country has 60% of the largest rainforest in the world.
On Friday, after a meeting between Lula and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Britain pledged to pay 80 million pounds ($101 million) to the Amazon Fund, created in 2008 to preserve the rainforest.
On Saturday, Lula called on developed countries to deal “very seriously” with the climate emergency.
As he did at the United Nations climate conference in Egypt last November, Lula sharply criticized rich countries for failing to deliver on their promises they made in 2009 to contribute $100 billion a year. year to help the world’s poorest countries reduce their emissions.
“These countries whose forests were destroyed during their industrialization 200 years ago need to understand that they have a debt in terms of carbon emissions and that they must pay this debt so that we can protect our forests”, did he declare.
Lula, who returned to power in January, pledged to prioritize protecting the Amazon rainforest and halting illegal deforestation by 2030.
The average annual loss of trees in the Amazon region under former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has increased by 75% compared to the previous decade.
During the coronation of King Charles on Saturday, Lula met briefly with French President Emmanuel Macron and they agreed to discuss Ukraine over the phone.
Lula added that his top aide Celso Amorim will travel to Ukraine on May 10 after a planned visit to Moscow in April.
Lula has come under fire in the West for saying that both Ukraine and Russia bear responsibility for the war.
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