Latin American leaders with strong influence on the climate agenda and prominent participation in regional COPs—Manuel Pulgar-Vidal from Peru, Patricia Espinosa from Mexico, and Gonzalo Muñoz from Chile—gathered in Baku with former Minister of the Environment Izabella Teixeira to discuss Latin America’s leadership in shaping the climate debate. The meeting, convened by the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI), the Climate and Society Institute (iCS), and WWF, took place at the Regional Climate Foundations pavilion and concluded with a toast to COP30, which will be held in Belém in 2025.

Izabella Teixeira, Trustee Emeritus at CEBRI, played a critical role in the negotiations of the Paris Agreement during COP21 in 2015, when the historic commitment to limit global warming was established. Pulgar-Vidal presided over COP20 in Lima—a year prior to the signing of the Paris Agreement—which laid the foundation for this ambitious accord. Patricia Espinosa served as Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) and chaired COP16, restoring international confidence in the negotiation process after the setbacks at COP15 in Copenhagen. Meanwhile, Muñoz was appointed by the Chilean government as the UN High-Level Climate Champion during COP25 in 2019.

A decade after COP20 in Lima, the participants exchanged views on topics such as land use, the challenges of trade and green protectionism, the importance of critical and strategic minerals for the energy transition, climate vulnerability, adaptation and resilience to the impacts of climate change, and global climate governance.

Expectations for the current COP include significant progress, given the tangible effects of climate change on daily life, with commitments to financing efforts to combat global warming. Negotiations around the Global Goal on Adaptation, established during COP28 in Dubai, are also anticipated.

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