After Belém, rebuilding Rio. Rethinking common but differentiated responsibility in international climate finance

The multilateral process of climate change negotiations is experiencing a major crisis, as evidenced by the recent climate conferences of the parties (COP), particularly the one held in Belém in October 2025. There are many reasons for this. One of them relates to the very logic of differentiation between the responsibilities of developed and developing countries upon which the Climate Convention (1992) is based. Not all developed countries have played the mitigation and financing game in the same way, while some developing countries are now major emitters of GHGs without contributing to international financing. Common responsibilities must be reaffirmed and differentiation adapted to countries’ progress. Without comprehensive and far-reaching reform, the entire system, which is on its last legs, is in danger of collapsing. This would be detrimental not only to the fight against climate change, but also to the poorest and most vulnerable developing countries.