From Rio to Belém: The long unravelling of climate consensus

Three decades after the optimism of the 1992 Earth Summit, the climate regime faces a tough test. The retreat of multilateralism and the rules-based international order has left COP30 struggling to hold together the fading promise of global action.

The 30th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), known as the Conference of Parties ( COP30 ), started in Belém, Brazil, on November 10. The event will continue until November 21. The latest edition of this global negotiation process to curb climate change is unfolding in the backdrop of a sharp contrast to the first such conference, the ‘Earth Summit’ held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 ( Rio-92 ).