COP30 Opens with Record Low Leadership Attendance as US Boycotts Climate Talks

The UN climate summit in Belém, Brazil, has convened with fewer than 20 heads of state as the Trump administration continues its withdrawal from international climate efforts.

• The US has not sent any high-level officials to COP30, following President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and his characterization of climate change as a "con job."
• Last year was the hottest on record, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres acknowledged that the 1.5°C target set in Paris will be breached.
• Ursula von der Leyen warned that Europe must not repeat past mistakes and lose another strategic clean energy industry to China, which now produces over 80% of the world's solar panels.
• The conference aims to finalize a multi-billion-dollar fund to support rainforests including the Amazon and Congo Basin.