Environmental issues, particularly climate change, are now firmly established on the international political agenda. The emergence of new global actors, increasing interdependence and connections on a global scale, the erosion of the traditional division between national and international levels, and the advent of a global governance system have led the discipline of International Relations to increasingly focus on globalization, as relations between sovereign states are insufficient to analyze and understand the current political, economic, and social dynamics of the world. The objective of this article is to understand global governance and the effectiveness of actions directed toward environmental protection. This bibliographic and qualitative study highlights that the effectiveness of global governance is related to the rigor—or lack thereof—with which the nation-state operates changes in its substantive norms, and the capacity of that government to implement the norms established by governance mechanisms. It concludes with the urgency of advocating for the strengthening of the state in a macro context where Brazil's participation has significant weight in global environmental governance due to its potential to contribute to positive global environmental outcomes in central areas of the agenda, such as biodiversity conservation and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.