When the thirtieth UN climate conference convened in Belem, Brazil, from 10 to 21 November 2025, LSE's Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment fielded one of the largest university delegations in climate economics. Staff from the institute, the Centre for Economic Transition Expertise, the TPI Global Climate Transition Centre and the institute's just transition team worked across the summit's finance and implementation agendas.
A focus of the institute's contribution was the Baku to Belem roadmap, the process launched a year earlier to scale climate finance for developing countries, with institute publications setting out how an integrated climate finance agenda could be delivered in support of it. The Amazonian setting sharpened attention on adaptation, forests and the finance gap facing lower-income countries, themes running through the institute's research programme.
Within days of the summit closing, the institute convened a public online event, COP30 and beyond: what was achieved in Belem?, on 26 November, at which delegates who attended the negotiations assessed the challenges and achievements on the key issues and looked ahead to COP31. The rapid cycle from negotiation room to public analysis illustrates the role LSE has carved out as an independent scorekeeper of international climate diplomacy.