BELÉM, BRAZIL—The 30th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) opened here on Thursday with a searing condemnation of U.S. climate policy, as global leaders singled out President Donald Trump and his administration for their “dangerous” denial of climate science and their determined push to dismantle global environmental pacts.
With the American President and his senior officials conspicuously absent from the Amazonian summit, several heads of state—particularly from Latin America and climate-vulnerable nations—took to the podium to deliver a unified, frontal attack, accusing the U.S. of actively sabotaging the world’s most critical collective effort.
The Scathing Attack from the South
The sharpest rebuke came from Colombian President Gustavo Petro, whose address directly and unsparingly targeted the U.S. President’s climate posture.
“Mr. Trump is literally against humankind by not coming here,” Petro asserted, framing the U.S. administration’s policy as a global existential threat.
Petro directly countered the administration’s “drill, drill, drill” fossil fuel advocacy, stating: “It’s not drill, drill, drill; he is 100% wrong. We can see the collapse that will happen if the U.S. does not decarbonize its economy.” The Colombian leader further argued that the pursuit of traditional geopolitical conflicts and increased military spending—a key demand of the Trump administration—is a distraction from the true global enemy: climate change.
Chile’s President, Gabriel Boric, echoed the sentiment, referring to the President’s claims that the climate crisis is a “hoax” as a “lie” that endangers the most vulnerable populations across the globe.
UN Secretary-General Warns of ‘Moral Failure’
The tone for the conference was set by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who opened the summit by declaring that the failure to meet the 1.5°C global heating target is a “moral failure and deadly negligence.”
While Guterres did not mention the U.S. President by name, his remarks were a thinly veiled reference to the obstruction faced by the UN process:
“Too many corporations are making record profits from climate devastation, with billions spent on lobbying, deceiving the public and obstructing progress,” Guterres stated, highlighting the entrenched fossil fuel interests that hold “world powers captive.”
The absence of high-level representation from the world’s second-largest carbon emitter has raised alarm among diplomats that the vacuum could signal a broader global retreat from the Paris Agreement’s goals, particularly as other powerful nations, including China, are still lagging on their updated emissions pledges.
The Subnational Resistance
Attempting to counter the isolation, a large delegation of U.S. governors, mayors, and civil society leaders arrived in Belém with a message of defiance.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is attending the summit, positioned state and regional leaders as the true face of American climate action: “As the President of the United States turns his back on people and the planet, California is inking global partnerships focused on creating jobs and cutting toxic pollution,” Newsom stated, highlighting the power of subnational governments to push ahead with a clean energy transition regardless of federal policy.
Ultimately, however, the official U.S. position of climate denialism casts a long shadow over the proceedings. The open and pointed hostility directed at the President underscores the profound chasm between America’s current leadership and the global community as the planet races toward what the UN warns are irreversible tipping points.