Without Applying the Ladder Tool COP30 Will Fail

World leaders at the Belém Climate Summit. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

The Ladder Tool shows why climate action breaks down when global ambition and local reality do not meet—and how we can fix it.

As the world focuses on COP30 in Belém, deep in the heart of the Amazon, expectations are once again high. Governments, civil society representatives, and powerful corporate lobbies are struggling to find common ground on how to curb greenhouse gas emissions and protect our planet’s ecosystems. The setting is symbolic, but symbolism alone will not deliver results.

Over decades of diplomatic work, I have observed how conferences like COP repeat the same structural error: they concentrate on finding the right diplomatic language, while neglecting what is truly at stake, what the different stakeholders at each level can realistically achieve, and how these levels interconnect. In Dare We Hope?, I introduced the Ladder Tool to help leaders, policymakers, and citizens navigate precisely this challenge.

The Ladder Tool reminds us that governance operates at multiple levels—local, national, regional, and global—and that each level has its own responsibilities, strengths, and limits. What is needed today is not only commitment, but coherence among all of them.

Global problems like climate change cannot be solved by international summits alone. These summits are necessary, but implementation depends on national governments, their political will and resources, and on local actors in cities, communities, businesses, and households.

The Ladder Tool shows that effective solutions depend on matching problems to the right level of action and coordination. Global ambition must translate into national legislation, local adaptation, and concrete behavioural change. When these levels clash or ignore one another, even the most ambitious agreements falter.

Here in Belém, the real question is no longer whether leaders will sign another declaration, but whether they can connect the levels of governance effectively. Are the necessary resources available? Will cities and regions be heard? Will business commitments align with public policies? Will indigenous and local communities, who protect the Amazon every day, be treated as actors rather than symbols?

Many failures in global governance do not result from bad will, but from confusion over who should act, when, and how. The Ladder Tool restores clarity—and with it, the possibility of constructive cooperation.

At COP30, one question must guide every negotiation:

How can we finally align global ambition with local action?

Only by climbing the governance ladder together can we reach the summit without losing sight of those who stand at the base.