UN climate negotiations burned up and then fizzled out
A fire burns in a pavilion during the COP30 UN Climate Change Conference in Belém, Pará state, Brazil, on November 20th, 2025. | Photo: Getty Images
"It's a wrap … Don't forget to buy an 'i survived Belém' shirt," reads the opening line of an email I got Saturday, the final day of highly anticipated United Nations climate negotiations in Belém, Brazil. The email was sent from Shravya Jain-Conti, the US climate diplomacy lead at the Global Strategic Communications Council (GSCC), who's been following these events for years. While she sometimes has tips on where to snag a cup of coffee along with her email updates to reporters, the T-shirt tip was a first as far as I've seen.
I've been mulling over these negotiations since last year, mapping out potential funding opportunities to make a t …