COP30 in Belém: Leadership between two worlds

COP30 in Belém: Leadership between two worlds Professor Richard Beardsworth continues his analysis of expectations for COP30 in Belém, as he navigates leadership between two realms, one rules-based and co-operative, the other nationalist-populist and centrifugal. We enter COP30 living, paradoxically, in two worlds – one rules-based and co-operative, the other nationalist- populist and centrifugal, treating obligations as optional. The first descends from the post-war multilateral order that organised collective security and prosperity; climate co-operation since Rio (1992) and Paris (2015) is that order applied the atmosphere. In it, states across the North and South aim for co-operative agreements both to keep 1.5°C credible and to embed climate justice as a measurable goal. This world depends on rules, transparency and reciprocity: for example, national mitigation goals (NDCs) that shape domestic policy; international finance that is predictable and grant-based; adaptation indicators that match support to need.