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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Environment
Oliver Milman

The temperature at Cop30: Trump’s absence better than a US wrecking ball

a composite image showing an aerial view of forested land along a river and a man speaking
Left: The Isla Yarina community along the Napo River during the Yaku Mama (Water Mother) flotilla, a 3,000km journey through the Amazon basin to Cop30 in Belém, Brazil, to demand a role in global climate decision-making, in Isla Yarina, Peru, on 18 October 2025. Right: Donald Trump in Miami on 5 November. Composite: Reuters; Getty Images

For years, countries around the world pressed the US to engage with them in addressing the climate crisis and to show it was serious about taking action. Now, with key United Nations climate talks under way in Brazil this week, other nations have been quietly hoping the US stays well away.

Under Donald Trump, who has called the climate crisis “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world”, the US has not only pulled back from climate action but openly agitated for greater global fossil fuel use and for other countries to tear down their own climate policies.

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