The 30th session of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, has opened under a banner of urgency and equity. Among its first remarkable interventions came that of Dilma Rousseff, President of the New Development Bank (NDB) and former President of Brazil, who on 6 November emphasised that climate action must be firmly yoked to social justice and the rights of the majority in the Global South.
In her address to the opening Heads of State summit, Rousseff reminded delegates that Belém—nestled on the edge of the Amazon—also symbolises the profound inseparability of nature and human wellbeing. She argued that the poorest communities, especially in developing economies, are already bearing the brunt of floods, crop failures and mounting food insecurity. “We know that it is the poorest who suffer the most,” she declared.
What makes Rousseff’s speech especially significant for progressive or left-leaning observers is her insistence that the NDB is ready to mobilise financing for a “just transition” – a concept gaining traction among climate-justice advocates that insists the shift to a low-carbon economy must protect jobs, communities and sovereignty, not undermine them. In practical terms, she committed the bank to backing projects that promote clean energy, ecosystem restoration and community resilience. For every megawatt of renewable energy, for every hectare restored, for every vulnerable community uplifted, she said, the NDB expresses its commitment to justice.
Crucially, she emphasised financing in local currencies rather than dominant global currencies like the dollar, arguing that loans and credits denominated in national currencies reduce exchange-rate risk and strengthen the autonomy of borrowing countries. This marks a clear push by a Global South institution to redefine the terms of climate finance, challenging traditional structures that often leave borrower nations exposed.
Rousseff also framed her stance as part of a broader struggle to preserve the commitments of the Paris Agreement, which she called a “civilisational pact”. She warned that the target to limit warming to 1.5 °C was under existential threat and that the global order of cooperation and justice was being hollowed out by powerful states acting in their narrow interest. “Some still seem to believe that the law of the strongest should prevail,” she said.
For readers in Nepal and beyond, the implications are clear. The NDB’s posture opens a window of opportunity for developing countries—whether in South Asia, Africa or Latin America—to access green transition funding under different terms: terms that emphasise sovereignty, local-currency risk mitigation, social inclusion and community empowerment. As countries like Nepal grapple with glacial melt, erratic monsoons and agricultural insecurity, the notion that climate finance must be justice-driven and just-transition oriented is especially resonant.
Yet the politics will not be easy. The broader context of COP30 reveals mounting distrust between North and South. While the heads of state gather in Belém, the gap—both in ambition and finance—between rich nations and vulnerable ones looms large. Observers note that even the $1.3 trillion annual mobilisation target for developing countries remains elusive, while many financing instruments still carry high risk and weak safeguards.
In this light, Rousseff’s speech can be read as a call for a paradigm shift—away from top-down, creditor-driven climate finance models, and toward a plural, multipolar architecture of green investment rooted in equity, regional cooperation and social justice. It also signals that the BRICS-anchored institutions such as the NDB are increasingly positioning themselves as alternatives—not merely service providers, but strategic partners shaping a Global South agenda.
For Nepal, this means watching closely how the NDB and similar multilateral banks negotiate terms, local-currency mechanisms and project pipelines. It means advocating for transition pathways that protect livelihoods in hydropower, agriculture and forestry, rather than simply replacing one extractive model with another. It means linking climate action with labour rights, land rights, gender justice and indigenous rights—exactly the kind of connections Rousseff insisted are indispensable.
As the summit proceeds, the question becomes: will finance follow the rhetoric? And will it be deployed in ways that transform power relations, rather than entrenching them? Rousseff’s pledge is a meaningful start, but for the many countries on the climate frontline, results will matter far more than words alone. History, as she reminded delegates, will judge this generation not by declarations, but by the courage with which it acts.