The Global Summit on Climate Change

The global landscape is changing faster than ever. As the world’s economies, technologies and industries evolve, leaders are navigating shifting dynamics to chart a new path forward. The Summit brings political, business and thought leaders together to explore how these shifts affect the world around us.

Despite the fact that global climate change is real and that the United States has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, many people remain committed to the multilateral process that has been the hallmark of international diplomacy over the issue. That’s why it is so troubling that the White House has reportedly decided not to send any high level representatives to this year’s United Nations climate conference, known as COP30, in Belem, Brazil, which opens on Thursday.

That’s likely because the Trump administration is hostile to any effort to tackle climate change, and it has been pressuring other countries to abandon any efforts at cooperation with the United States on the issue, too. That has created a vacuum at the meeting that experts worry could lead to the failure of an important initiative that could help limit global warming.

Those doubts were raised this week when Lula addressed the opening plenary of COP30, telling attendees that “the window of opportunity for addressing climate change is closing.” He called on all countries to support the official negotiations at COP30 and to avoid a breakdown in diplomatic efforts on the issue. He also pointed to the collapse of the Amazon rainforest, a biome that is crucial for global climate balance and that is being impacted by deforestation, climate change and drought.