diff --git a/core/src/css/float-elements.scss b/core/src/css/float-elements.scss
index 0e543e3404e..78147a3798a 100644
--- a/core/src/css/float-elements.scss
+++ b/core/src/css/float-elements.scss
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+// Global stylesheet: `:host-context()` never matches outside a shadow root
+$rtl-use-host-context: false;
+
 @import "../themes/ionic.globals";
 @import "../themes/ionic.mixins";
 
diff --git a/core/src/css/test/global-stylesheets.spec.ts b/core/src/css/test/global-stylesheets.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..430e3702de1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/css/test/global-stylesheets.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+import { execFileSync } from 'child_process';
+import { readdirSync } from 'fs';
+import { dirname, join } from 'path';
+
+const cssDir = join(__dirname, '..');
+const sassCli = join(dirname(require.resolve('sass')), 'sass.js');
+
+/**
+ * Compiles through the sass CLI, the same way `npm run css.sass` builds
+ * the published stylesheets. The sass JS API can't be imported here
+ * because it detects the spec window and never populates its exports.
+ */
+const compileStylesheet = (file: string) =>
+  execFileSync(process.execPath, [sassCli, '--style=compressed', '--no-source-map', join(cssDir, file)], {
+    encoding: 'utf8',
+  });
+
+const globalStylesheets = ['.', 'palettes'].flatMap((dir) =>
+  readdirSync(join(cssDir, dir))
+    .filter((file) => file.endsWith('.scss'))
+    .map((file) => join(dir, file))
+);
+
+describe('global stylesheets', () => {
+  // https://github.com/ionic-team/ionic-framework/issues/30024
+  it.each(globalStylesheets)('%s should not contain :host-context', (file) => {
+    expect(compileStylesheet(file)).not.toContain(':host-context');
+  });
+
+  it('float-elements.scss should flip start and end floats for an ancestor dir=rtl', () => {
+    const css = compileStylesheet('float-elements.scss');
+
+    expect(css).toContain('[dir=rtl] .ion-float-start{float:right !important}');
+    expect(css).toContain('[dir=rtl] .ion-float-end{float:left !important}');
+    expect(css).toContain('.ion-float-start:dir(rtl){float:right !important}');
+    expect(css).toContain('.ion-float-end:dir(rtl){float:left !important}');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/core/src/themes/ionic.mixins.scss b/core/src/themes/ionic.mixins.scss
index da174046be7..aa25b62abe6 100644
--- a/core/src/themes/ionic.mixins.scss
+++ b/core/src/themes/ionic.mixins.scss
@@ -226,6 +226,11 @@
   // }
 }
 
+// Whether `rtl()` emits `:host-context()` selectors. Global stylesheets
+// set this to false: they apply to the document, where `:host-context()`
+// never matches, and Lightning CSS warns about every occurrence.
+$rtl-use-host-context: true !default;
+
 @mixin rtl() {
   $root: #{&};
 
@@ -254,7 +259,7 @@
   }
 
   // Supported by Chrome.
-  @if length($hostContextSelectors) > 0 {
+  @if $rtl-use-host-context and length($hostContextSelectors) > 0 {
     @at-root #{$hostContextSelectors} {
       @content;
     }