Empty chair in Belem: US Absence Looms Large at COP30 Climate Summit
The summit, known as COP30, convened 195 nations in the Brazilian Amazonian city, with world leaders emphasizing the urgent need for collective action to combat global warming and its increasingly devastating consequences, particularly on the world’s most vulnerable populations. However,the lack of U.S. participation – alongside Afghanistan, Myanmar, and san Marino – casts a shadow over efforts to forge a united front.
Negotiators were urged to swiftly reduce emissions from fossil fuels, but the path forward is complex by the U.S. withdrawal. “Humanity is still in this fight,” stated United Nations climate secretary simon Stiell, adding that “we have some tough opponents, no doubt, but we also have some heavyweights on our side. One is the brute power of the market forces as renewables get cheaper.”
The empty chair, while primarily a protest against the U.S. absence, served as a broader call to action. “It was also intended to be a call-out for other nations ‘to step in and step up,'” explained Danni Taaffe with Climate Action Network International.
Brazil’s President luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, hosting the conference, delivered a powerful message, asserting that “the climate emergency is an increase of inequality.” He warned that inaction “deepens the perverse logic that defines who is worthy of living and who should die.” This year’s COP is framed not as a venue for ambitious new agreements, but as an “implementation COP,” focused on countries delivering on existing pledges to fight climate change.
The United Nations released updated calculations on Monday indicating that current national pledges promise a 12% reduction in projected 2035 global greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2019 levels – a 2-point improvement from last month. Attendees stressed the necessity of international cooperation, with André Corrêa do Lago, the conference president, emphasizing the importance of “mutirão”-an Indigenous term signifying collective effort.
The absence of the United States, under a returning governance of President Donald Trump, significantly complicates these calls for unity. Trump has repeatedly denied the existence of climate change and has moved to bolster fossil fuel production while hindering the development of renewable energy sources. His administration withdrew from the Paris Agreement, a landmark global pact to combat climate change, and has done so again upon returning to office, and did not dispatch high-level negotiators to Belem.
the Paris Agreement aimed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, but scientists increasingly believe this target is unattainable given current trajectories. The United States remains historically responsible for the largest cumulative carbon dioxide emissions,even as China is currently the top annual polluter.
Palau Ambassador Ilana Seid,chairing the Alliance of Small Island States,noted that the U.S. withdrawal “has really shifted the gravity” of the negotiations. Former U.S. Special Envoy for Climate todd Stern concurred, stating, “it’s a good thing that they are not sending anyone. It wasn’t going to be constructive if they did.” Despite the federal government’s absence, some attendees expressed hope that U.S. cities, states, and businesses would help fill the void.
Lula and Stiell acknowledged the progress made under the Paris Agreement, but stressed the need for accelerated action.They cited recent extreme weather events – including typhoons in Vietnam and the Philippines – as evidence of the escalating climate crisis. “Climate change is not a threat of the future. It is already a tragedy of the present time,” Lula declared.
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This story was produced as part of the 2025 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship organized by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security.
