Will Belém Kill Paris?

Will Belém Kill Paris?

COP30 in Brazil tests the 2015 climate accord at a pivotal moment.

This view shows the COP30 logotype at Docks Station in Belem, Brazil, on Oct. 24. October 30, 2025, 12:01 AM Comment icon View Comments ( )

On Nov. 10, when world leaders gather on the edge of the Amazon rainforest in Belém, Brazil, for COP30—the first global climate summit since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January—they will face the deepest crisis in climate politics since the collapse of the Kyoto Protocol. But while Trump has greatly accelerated and worsened the crisis, its origins lie in the 2015 Paris Agreement .

Ten years after its birth, Paris is at once the most successful climate accord in history and, so far, unable by itself to drive sufficient