State of Global Environmental Governance 2025
With growing geopolitical tension and unprecedented challenges to multilateralism, 2025 saw both setbacks and wins in global environmental negotiations. While shared action on climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, and pollution is not moving at the speed and scale required, some advances are cause for hope.
Key Messages
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In 2025, geopolitical plates continued their persistent movement, with the United States all but relinquishing its leadership role—and others eager to fill the void. Meanwhile, structures set up decades ago were increasingly seen as ill-equipped to respond to developing countries' needs.
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The International Court of Justice made clear that a country's withdrawal from environmental treaties does not cancel out its existing legal obligations. In its 2025 advisory opinion, the court clarified states' obligations with respect to climate change and what happens if they are breached.
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2025 revealed an increasing emphasis on efficiency in implementation and governance. While "synergies" between conventions have long been discussed, these talks took on renewed salience because of shrinking budgets and the need "to do more with less."
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As countries prepare to tackle fossil fuels at a conference outside a formal UN process, the authors wonder if 2026 might bring more visionary approaches to reinvent multilateralism.
The latest edition of the annual State of Global Environmental Governance report reviews outcomes from climate change negotiations in Belém for the 30th UN Climate Change Conference (COP 30); the stymied plastic pollution treaty negotiations; the establishment of a new dedicated science body to inform policy-making on chemicals, waste, and pollution; and other key efforts to address the shared environmental crises of our times.
Join the Earth Negotiations Bulletin team as they reflect on the progress and regress of 2025's environmental negotiating rooms, consider what takeaways should guide our efforts in 2026, and preview the negotiations to watch in the coming year.
Foreword by Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary, Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions.
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