Day Three Starts at Cop30
Dharna Noor
The second day of Cop29 ended with a bang, as many indigenous protesters forced their way into the conference center. Demonstrators, some of whom wore headdresses and carried instruments, pulled doors from their hinges, moved them through scanner scanners, and were targeted by guards before being forced into the area. “Our forests are not for sale,” one protest sign read.
It is a sign that this year marks the return of major protests at the UN talks, after years of criticism. More demonstrations are planned in the area for the rest of the week, both on and off the site.
About 50,000 people are attending COP30, from civil society groups that hold rallies with researchers, to researchers who come together with esoteric documents, to politicians who come together in closed rooms. One group, however, did not trust the climate talks: a delegation from the US, the largest historical greenhouse gas emitter in the world.
This is the first time the US is sitting in full negotiations, the research organization Carbon Brief confirmed on Tuesday. US President Donald Trump, who called the climate crisis a “Hoax,” pulled the country out of the Paris agreement in January as part of the climate attack policy.
Governessor Govin Newsom Gavin Newsom, who reached the climate talks on Tuesday, “he is an incident of the Trump ball:” He is an incident of the ball,” he said in a press conference. “He is trying to improve the progress of the last century, he is trying to relegate the 19th century, he is doubling down on stupidity.”
Newsom, whose state has the world’s fourth-largest economy, is the top US official at Cop29. Wherever he went on Tuesday, he was followed by hoards of spectators. In meetings and press conferences, he assured people that California is committed to climate action.
“The United States of America is as dumb as we want to be on this subject, but the state of California is not,” he said at a meeting earlier Tuesday. “And so we have to adapt ourselves, we lean in, and we compete in this space.”
Response to the US left is mixed. On Monday, Tuvalu’s domestic affairs and the Minina Vakafua Talia movement indicated that Trump’s withdrawal showed “a shameful rejection of the rest of the world.”
But on Tuesday, Christian figueres of the United Nations Convention on climate change, said on Tuesday that the absence of the talks “is actually a good thing.”
“Ciao, Bambino,” was his response to the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.
In a press gaggle, Newsom said: “That’s a hell of a statement coming from the mother of the Paris agreement.” Trump’s absence “creates an opportunity” for local leaders to come to the fore on climate policy, Newsom said.
“What’s on the road will be the way. This is an opportunity for us at the local level to prove ourselves,” he said. “He took. So I took.”
Tuesday is a great day for showing local climate leadership, said Ana Toni, COP30’s CEO, in an evening press conference. More than 185 representatives of the city met to talk about adapting to extreme heat, and more than $ 20 talking about concrete action to beat the heat and financing.
National actors can make a big difference in climate policy, including the US, studies show. But Trump may still try to stall progress, some warn. The COP30 is particularly concerned about the lightness of the Trump administration’s behavior at an international maritime meeting last month, where officials brought foreign leaders to those who support a carbon fee on shipping.
Tomorrow morning, activists will have another protest, putting the spotlight on Trump specifically. They will hold a banner that says “Stop Climate Saboteurs,” emblazoned with an outline of the US president.
“The lack of presence of Trump at the moment is a blessing in disguise, but you never know when he will try and activate the talks, an organization of action, told the Guardian.
He urged world leaders to resist any pressure they might face from the US. “Whatever happens in the US, the rest of the world needs to come together and act on climate,” he said. “This is the only way we can move forward with the goals of the Paris climate agreement.”