Just before world leaders gathered for the Cop30 climate change conference, the Brazilian government issued a dispensation note to intending participants.
It said owing to the high temperatures and humid conditions in the host city, Belém, formal business attire would not be required.
“They don’t really mean that,” said one official delegation member, suspicious of the recommendation that smart casual be the working wardrobe.
Maybe it was a ploy to test the mettle of the attending nations – to find out who can stand the heat of negotiations and who really means business.
RM Block
Or maybe it genuinely was the fact that Belém is averaging daytime temperatures of 32 degrees with humidity levels that would make sandpaper slippery.
Few seemed willing to risk a dressing down for dressing down.
Open-necked, tie-less shirts and the odd open-toed sandal were as informal as anyone would risk, but always compensated for by a well-pressed suit jacket.
But if clothes are an unreliable indicator of intent, how do we know who really means business at Cop30?
Weeks before the summit, China was riding high on hopes as the country to fill the void left by the US and drive the global climate agenda.
Chinese president Xi Jinping’s address to the United Nations when he announced the country’s first formal-emissions reduction target was full of the kind of talk that could be hugely influential if transposed into action.
“While some countries are acting against it [the green transition], the international community should stay focused on the right direction, remain unwavering in confidence, unremitting in actions and unrelenting in intensity,” he said, in words interpreted as meaning the United States can stay away as China is taking over as lead nation.
However, his emissions reduction target, 7 to 10 per cent by 2035 compared to peak levels, is modest and did not specify when the peak is likely to occur, though some believe this year will be the turning point.
Then, despite his contention that “climate governance is entering a key stage”, he did what he does every year at this time and stayed home.
Delivering China’s national address in his place, vice-premier Ding Xuexiang got down to the business of, well, business.
He called on countries to “remove trade barriers and ensure the free flow of quality green products”, of which China just happens to be the world’s leading supplier.
If China fails to provide the standout moment of Cop30, that leaves room for the European Union to take the helm.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen was keen to paint a picture of a European Union with unrivalled reach and influence.
Europe is the world’s biggest contributor to climate finance, its pioneering emissions trading system is being emulated in other countries and it boasts dozens of trade agreements, or bilateral clean transition partnerships, keeping clean products in production worldwide for European buyers.
“My message is clear – Europe is staying the course,” said von der Leyen, her normally restrained arms hammering the air for emphasis.
It is true that the EU has the most ambitious targets, if the terms and conditions are taken into account.
In an agreement reached with difficulty a day before Cop30 began, member states committed to a 90 per cent cut by 2040, allowed to drop to 80 per cent real cuts with the remainder composed of carbon credits bought from overseas.
Allowing use of international carbon credits, the EU risks being labelled just another rich clique trying to buy its way out of its obligations.
As a scene-setter for the main negotiations, which begin on Monday, the EU’s contribution lacked punch despite the fleeting air hammering.
“The words spoken here will be the compass of the journey to be made by our delegations over the next two weeks,” Brazilian president Lula da Silva reminded his fellow speakers.
So his own words are due scrutiny and they were lively, referencing how “extremist forces peddle untruths to obtain electoral gains and imprison future generations in an outdated model that perpetuates social and economic disparities and environmental degradation”.
He also spoke of the need to overcome dependence on fossil fuels, which other addresses did not, despite fossil fuels being the very reason the summit exists.
Even Lula’s reference was a little timid, as might be expected from a man who recently authorised oil drilling in the mouth of the Amazon.
He has sought to appease critics – including small groups who have protested outside the Cop30 venue – saying “over time” oil companies will transform “because a growth model based on fossil fuels cannot last”.
But time is rapidly running out to get climate change under control, a point non-governmental organisations intend to make repeatedly and vigorously when the formal fortnight of talks begins on Monday.
Before then, the unfinished venue in Belém’s city park must be completed and its empty halls fitted with country pavilions, workshop spaces and seminar stages.
And heads of national delegations must devise a way to translate their leaders’ words into agreed actions and their inaction into acceptable words.
They’ll be feeling the heat, no matter what their sartorial choices.
