André Corrêa do Lago: The 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders of 2025

International relations, on all issues, right now are deeply fractured. And climate change is no exception, with everything from fossil-fuel usage to climate-related trade measures dividing countries. As the president of the annual U.N. climate summit, this year known as COP30 and held in Belém, Brazil, André Corrêa do Lago is charged with picking up the pieces and, by his own account, showing the world that multilateralism can still deliver. “The only way of solving important issues is through cooperation,” he says. “But the international context is quite complex.”

From his first days in the role, the longtime Brazilian ambassador has emphasized efforts to show, rather than simply tell, the world that climate solutions can work. Corrêa do Lago has coordinated a global Mutirão—Portuguese for “collective effort”— with gatherings for stakeholders to discuss concrete efforts to break through geopolitical paralysis. And he launched a platform—essentially an online tool with case studies and analysis—to evaluate the myriad commitments that have emerged in past U.N. climate conferences, with an eye to accelerating the solutions that work. “We have to make sure that we can convince people that this can bring very positive impacts,” he says. 

Few expect a sweeping, once-in-a-generation deal from nearly 200 countries in Brazil this year. But that’s no longer the bar. For decades, climate insiders worried the process would collapse if the U.S. pulled back. Corrêa do Lago’s sees a way forward: if COP30 can mobilize coalitions that move steel, power, forests, and trade in the right direction, multilateralism will have done its job.