After COP30: What Works When Stakeholders Won't Align

If 30 UN Climate meetings have taught us anything, it's that the gulf between short-term interests and long-term vision remains stubbornly wide.

Bringing people together on planet-wide action has always been challenging, but right now? It's becoming harder than ever. Different priorities, competing timelines, short-term pressures and vested interests ‘trumping’ long-term societal benefits.

Earlier this year at ChangeNOW 2025, we invited 16 cross-sector change champions to discuss the changing landscape of stakeholder engagement. Six months on, with COP30 fresh in our minds, the insights feel more relevant than ever.

Inside this roundtable report, you'll discover:

• What practitioners actually mean when they talk about "stakeholder engagement" (the definitions varied)

• The number one barrier to effective engagement in business (It’s the same as for the UN Climate Conferences)

• Real examples of converting sceptical leaders and turning compliance into collaboration do exist

• How some are trying to reframe "apathy" as "different priorities" — and how that shift can help when faced with the mass disengagement we see in our everyday

Every type of leader, state and non-state, is wrestling with alignment. COP30 showed us that simply bringing everyone into the same room isn't enough. What matters is how we convene, who we bring together, and what happens in the space we create.

For now, the most effective solution seems to be this: one intentional stakeholder conversation at a time.