Governors and mayors take the lead in the climate debate at COP30 in Trump’s absence

Brazil will host the UN’s annual climate summit, COP30, in the coming days. The Amazonian city of Belém do Pará will be the epicenter of the debates on emissions reduction. Dozens of leaders and delegations from around the world will attend, and, unsurprisingly, U.S. President Donald Trump will be the most notable absentee. But that doesn’t mean the country that has historically contributed most to global warming will be unrepresented. Governors and mayors are working hard to appear in the debates leading up to COP30 to fill that void.

“We’re here, don’t think we aren’t, we remain committed to the Paris Agreement,” said Gina McCarthy this week in Rio de Janeiro. McCarthy, who served as climate advisor to Joe Biden’s administration, now leads the America All In coalition, comprised of governors and mayors who are upholding their climate commitments regardless of the White House’s stance. McCarthy attended the Rio Local Leaders Forum, a pre-COP30 meeting in Belém, accompanied by a large delegation of over 100 officials, including governors, mayors, and secretaries. While more than 400 mayors from around the world debated financing, adaptation strategies, transportation, and energy, the Americans’ main concern was to make it clear that they can still be counted on. “We know what we have to do, and we are going to do it. We are going to act, there is no doubt about it,” the veteran politician declared in a forceful press conference.

This is not a small, disaffected group. The America All In coalition includes 24 states (with a majority of Democratic governors, but also some Republicans) and 350 cities. They represent two-thirds of the population, three-quarters of the country’s GDP, and half of all pollution in the United States. The group — which was formed during the first Trump administration when the Republican first withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement — now boasts of having reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 24% compared to 2005 levels, and that this has not been a burden on its economy, since its GDP grew by 34% during that time. The main key has been robust investment in renewable energy, which has allowed for a 45% reduction in emissions from the electricity sector. Emissions from the transportation sector, which remains the largest source, have fallen by 17% compared to 2005.

Tucson, a city of half a million inhabitants in Arizona, very close to the Mexican border, is one of those places where ideas “hit the ground,” as its mayor, Regina Romero, says. In the middle of the Sonoran Desert, the extreme heat and lack of water make it one of the most vulnerable spots on the country’s map. Six years ago, Romero won the mayoral election with the promise to plant a million trees to cool the city. With the Covid-19 pandemic, all buses were made free to ride, which led to a 63% increase in public transportation use — a remarkable achievement in a city (like almost all in the United States) that is extremely dependent on cars.

Everything was progressing smoothly until Trump’s return to the White House caused a considerable scare. “There was a significant impact, because the Biden administration invested millions in cities across the country. Trump cut most of that funding as soon as he was elected. It hurts a lot that the federal government isn’t helping us, especially on climate change, but we’ve secured our own funding; we’ve found sustainable ways to keep going,” Romero explains in a conversation with El PAÍS between meetings. Lacking the funds coming from Washington, alliances were forged with companies and philanthropic foundations. Some new taxes have also been created, such as a water tax that penalizes large consumers. As a result, Tucson now consumes the same amount of water as it did in 1980, even though the population has doubled.

The alliance’s common goal remains maintaining the Paris Agreement as a roadmap for achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, although some are doubling down. From the conservative, oil-rich state of Texas, Austin Mayor Kirk Preston Watson, a Democrat, presented the Climate Equity plan four years ago, which aims to “reduce fossil fuel use to near zero” by 2040. In contrast to the doomsayers, he says he advocates a “pragmatic idealism” and, above all, concrete projects that can be replicated: “When one city implements a solution, there are 100 others that can scale it up.”

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