Washington:
President Donald Trump’s administration has abolished the offices that run American climate diplomacy. This means that the world’s largest economy could be a no-show at the COP30 summit in November, held in Brazil.
The State Department confirmed Friday that the Global Change Bureau, which is responsible for representing the United States in UN climate diplomacy, has been closed.
“We will not participate in international agreements or initiatives that do not reflect the values of our nation,” a State Department spokesperson said.
“As a result, this office supported the efforts of previous administrations to stumble the United States through participation in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and other agreements aimed at limiting or preventing climate change — is not necessary.”
The move wasn’t a surprise as Trump is a climate skeptic and moved to pull the US outside the Landmark Paris Climate Agreement when he returned to his office on January 20th.
The Climate Bureau was one of the most notable absentee absentees when Secretary of State Marco Rubio laid out a reorganization of the State Department on Tuesday.
But the complete absence of the US at the November summit in Amazon’s Belem city will be a major change in global climate diplomacy.
The US has joined climate talks under the skeptical George W. Bush – often with the goal of enduring the agreement – and fossil fuel producers such as Saudi Arabia continue to be part of the process despite frequent differences of opinion.
Even if the US ultimately sends several representatives to climate consultations, it marks a sudden change in position profiles just four years later.
Former President Joe Biden has raised the position of climate envoy to cabinet position, taking away the roles of former Secretary of State, Senator and presidential candidates.
Kelly, working closely with China, the world’s largest emitter, reached the world’s first call to move away from fossil fuels, responsible for most of global warming, at the 2023 COP28 conference in Dubai.
According to the EU’s Climate Monitor Copernicus, the planet has already heated at least 1.36 degrees higher than its pre-industrial era.
Scientists warn that 1.5c warming is sufficient to cause major damage to the planet, such as rising disasters and the disappearance of most reefs.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published by Syndicate Feed.)
