Six months after a glacier collapse devastated the village of Blatten, driving home the effects of climate change on Switzerland, a team of Swiss negotiators are heading to the Amazon city of Belém for the COP30 climate conference which take place from November 10-21. As national priorities and geopolitics shift, will Switzerland seize the opportunity to lead?

The glacier collapse and ensuing landslide which engulfed the canton Valais village of Blatten is one footnote among this year’s list of climate disasters. Others include devastating California wildfires, a category five hurricane that tore through Jamaica, and deadly monsoon rains in Pakistan, Nepal and India which displaced millions of people. Losses are among the costliest ever recorded; $145 billion (CHF116 billion) in the first half of 2025, according to reinsurer Swiss Re. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has predicted that average global temperature increases will surpass the UN target limit of 1.5°C before the end of the decade, which in turn will spark more climate fallout.

Yet ahead of COP30 most developed nations are failing to curb emissions enough to slow temperature gains; neither are they meeting target submission deadlines or boosting funding to help developing countries cope with catastrophes.