Climate advocates weigh stakes of Trump's COP30 snub
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The White House decision to largely sit out COP30 will have a mixed effect on the looming summit in Brazil, other players say.
Catch up quick: The White House said Friday that no "high level representatives" will attend the annual UN climate talks.
- President Trump is "directly engaging" with world leaders on energy, an official said, citing recent trade frameworks with energy agreements, a White House official said.
The big picture: One school of thought is that top officials' absence means the U.S. won't use the consensus process to gum things up.
- "I'm sure the rest of the world is thinking if not vocally expressing 'good riddance,'" John Podesta, a top Obama- and Biden-era climate official, tells me via email.
Yes, but: The lack of participation by the "most important geopolitical player" and second-largest emitter "clearly ... does damage," EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra tells Bloomberg.
- And Trump 2.0 isn't shy about using other means to thwart global climate efforts it opposes.
What they're saying: The federal void provides U.S. state, local, and business officials attending a "bigger platform" to show continued momentum for clean energy, said Genevieve Maricle, a former Obama- and Biden-era climate aide.
- "It further empowers other countries to step in to drive ambitious solutions that will lead the economy of the future," Maricle, a special adviser to the group America is All In, said via email.
- And Hoekstra sees an opening for new "partnerships and opportunities."
Caveat: We still don't know what, exactly, the U.S. presence might look like.
What's next: COP30's heads-of-state portion, which will be somewhat sparse, opens late this week.
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