Trump Pivot Is a ‘Watershed Moment’ for Climate, Says EU’s Hoekstra
Europe’s top climate diplomat said the US skipping the COP30 summit is a blow but doesn’t close down paths to progress.
Wopke Hoekstra, climate commissioner of the European Union, during a news conference in Brussels on Oct. 16.
Photographer: Simon Wohlfahrt/BloombergEU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said the US retreat on green commitments will damage the potential for global impact as well as the overall mood at the upcoming COP30 talks in Brazil, but that it points to new “partnerships and opportunities” for other nations to forge progress.
The US said on Friday that it will not send high-level officials to the United Nations-sponsored events, which start next week in the Amazonian city of Belém. President Donald Trump in January initiated the country’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, a process that takes a year.