COP30 exposed the gap between Brazil’s climate ambition and delivery

COP30 was meant to be the moment Brazil stepped confidently into global climate leadership. Instead, what we witnessed in Belém exposed how fragile that ambition still is. For a country eager to project environmental credibility, the contradictions on display were too stark to ignore.

We had hoped COP30 would demonstrate that ambition and capacity can coexist in the global south. What emerged, however, was an apparent disconnect between what Brazil promised and what it delivered. Logistical failures, political misjudgements and mixed signals turned the summit into a lesson in how reputations rely not on speeches, but on coherence.

A road cut through the forest for a climate summit

Few images captured this contradiction more forcefully than the decision to carve a road through the forest to ensure access to the venue. Trees were cut so the world can gather to discuss how to save them. No official narrative could overshadow that irony. Diplomats told us the toppled trees shaped their perception of COP30 even before negotiations began.

The Amazon COP that sidelined essential voices

Brazil promised a conference that placed Indigenous and traditional knowledge at the centre. Yet the communities whose futures are inseparable from the forest often felt excluded from key discussions. When Indigenous groups forced their way into the pavilion, it did not feel like disruption; it felt like testimony – a refusal to be symbolic participants in a summit held on their own land. Their demonstration pierced the official narrative more sharply than any press release.

A showcase undermined by preventable failures

In global diplomacy, nothing weakens an event more quickly than the impression that basics were overlooked. Images of flooded pavilions, a fire tearing through part of the structure, diesel generators humming beside climate banners and delegates eating ice cream for lunch due to food shortages spread widely.

These were not unavoidable setbacks; they signalled a state apparatus unprepared for the precision and contingency planning required in modern climate diplomacy. Rain in the Amazon is predictable. So is the need for risk management. Yet both seemed to catch organisers off guard.

A reputational opportunity lost

Brazil has all the ingredients to lead on climate: a potent renewable-energy mix, extraordinary biodiversity and diplomatic relevance. But leadership depends on consistency. At COP30, that consistency faltered – from the reliance on diesel infrastructure to soaring accommodation prices, governance gaps and the sidelining of those most affected by climate decisions.

Reputation is not built through marketing. It comes from alignment between discourse and practice. In Belém, that alignment was missing.

A diplomatic mood that said everything

One remark captured the atmosphere more clearly than any closing speech: the German chancellor expressing relief at being “finally going home”. In diplomacy, relief is never a positive sign. When a prominent global actor leaves not energised but exhausted, the message is unmistakable – this was an opportunity wasted.

Brazil can still lead — but realism must come first

None of this means Brazil cannot become the climate leader it aspires to be. However, the country must confront the gap between its intentions and its implementation. Climate leadership today requires institutions capable of delivering what they promise, and a genuine willingness to listen to those whose knowledge, territories and lived experience sustain the ecosystems we claim to protect.

Brazil’s potential is enormous. But potential is not performance. COP30 was supposed to turn the page; instead, it exposed how urgently the country must rewrite its opening chapters.

Reputation is built quietly – and lost very publicly.

Lorena Nogaroli is a reputation strategist and journalist, and founder of Central Press, and a partner at Brazil Communication in London. João Alfredo Lopes Nyegray is a lecturer in international business at PUCPR and a specialist in global strategy.