COP30 Leaders Gather in Brazil Without the U.S., China or India

World leaders convened in Belem, Brazil, this week for a pre-summit of the United Nations’ COP30 climate conference, but the presidents of the three largest emitters of greenhouse gases, the United States, China and India, did not attend. Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, also boycotted the meeting, according to NBC News and PBS NewsHour. Formal negotiations begin next week.

President Trump, who withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement on his first day in office, sent no senior officials, NBC and PBS reported. China sent Deputy Prime Minister Ding Xuexiang. About half as many heads of state came as to last year’s summit in Azerbaijan, NBC reported. Leaders who did attend included France’s Emmanuel Macron, Britain’s Keir Starmer and Germany’s Friedrich Merz.

Brazil’s president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said the “window of opportunity we have to act is rapidly closing,” according to NBC. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said world powers “remain captive to the fossil fuel interests, rather than protecting the public interest,” and called missing the 1.5 degree Celsius warming benchmark a “moral failure and deadly negligence.”

Lula was candid about his own record. He said on Tuesday, “I don’t want to be an environmental leader,” and added, “I never claimed to be,” NBC and PBS both reported. They also noted that he had granted the state oil company Petrobras a license to explore for oil near the mouth of the Amazon River, which critics warn risks spills. Both outlets said about 17 percent of the Amazon’s forest cover has been lost over the past 50 years to farming, logging and mining, and that existing U.N. loss-and-damage funds have drawn only modest contributions.

Lula’s centerpiece is the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, a fund meant to pay 74 heavily forested developing countries to keep their trees standing, financed by loans from richer countries and commercial investors, both outlets reported. NBC said Brazil announced $5.5 billion in pledges from Norway, Indonesia and a few other countries, and it is unclear whether major powers will contribute.

The conference aims to cut emissions, help poor nations adapt to extreme weather, halt rainforest destruction and raise money. Formal negotiations are to begin the following week, both outlets reported.

Advocates and diplomats told PBS that it could signal a more global retreat from climate politics. Critics of Paris-style commitments argue they weigh on American industry.