This week, I have been participating in the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) here in Belem, Brazil. This is a toughened, weathered city near the equator at the mouth of the Amazon River and the edge of the Amazon rainforest. This city hosts the event as Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was determined to bring the eyes of the world -- and over 50,000 COP30 participants -- here.
This has been dubbed the Mutirão meeting. This is a Portuguese word that means coming together in collective efforts to achieve a common goal. This has also been referred to as "the truth COP" and "the implementation COP" as representatives of most nations around the world gather here to make progress on international climate policy to combat climate change.
However, the Trump administration chose not to send any U.S. delegates to COP30. Thus, the Trump administration has been missing out on this otherwise global collective action planning. The chair with the UNITED STATES placard sits empty in the U.N. climate negotiations plenary hall. On Monday, I went there and sat in the designated chair for a few minutes as I pondered how the U.S. is missing many opportunities to benefit both U.S. and planetary denizens.
By not being here in Belem, the U.S. delegation misses chances to demonstrate moral and material leadership. U.S. representatives squander opportunities to engage in the rapidly growing clean energy industry and bring jobs back home. The list goes on.
While some may be pleased that Trump officials are not in the way of action here, U.S. un-representation has consequences. We all should have fear of the U.S. missing out (FoUSMO). The U.S. is only second to China in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the year 2025. Historically, the U.S. has been the largest emitter of CO2 on planet Earth (24% of the total since the Industrial Revolution of the 1770s -- China is next with 15% over that timespan). So the absence of the world's richest country is felt in Belem.
The U.S. is nearly alone now. Only three other nations are missing from the talks: Afghanistan, Myanmar and San Marino. Meanwhile, when on January 20 the Trump administration withdrew from the Paris Agreement, the U.S. joined Iran, Yemen and Libya on the short list of defectors from the climate pact.
Things have changed so dramatically that we must squint to see the days of bipartisan U.S.-led international action on climate change. The UN FCCC came out of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when over 100 heads of state participated in the historic gathering. It may be hard to believe that in 1992 the UN FCCC was signed by US President George H.W. Bush and the functioning U.S. Senate ratified it shortly after that. In fact, the U.S. was the first country of the "global north" to ratify it, following shortly after majority country leaders Mauritius, Monaco, Seychelles and the Marshall Islands.
The UNFCCC treaty -- with the central objective to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations "at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (human induced) interference with the climate system" -- went into force in 1994, which began the annual COP negotiations to follow. While we all missed one year due to COVID-19, we have now arrived at COP30 in 2025, with the Trump administration stuck in the past.
While the United States' standing has diminished on the global stage, many of the vexing challenges associated with climate change have persisted. Among them, with or without the U.S., those with most to lose often have the least voice, power and access to affect change. But this week, mobilizations of young people and civil society here -- led by indigenous and community movements -- have tested this notion as they spoke and acted out through several demonstrations and protests at the COP30 venue as well as throughout the city. They have been voicing strenuous opposition to ongoing systems of oppression and extraction, drilling and deforestation, as well as pollution of our skies, lands and waters. With another week of talks still to come, ongoing struggles for just and deep decarbonization now flow through Belem.