What to Expect at COP30

World leaders and sustainability professionals will travel to Belém, Brazil, next week for COP30 – a global climate conference. The Paris Agreement emerged from past COPs, where global leaders convened to drive an international climate agenda. External stakeholders have increasingly helped drive the conversation at these COPs and use the convening as an opportunity to share their own organizational sustainability agenda and network with companies, NGOs, and governments.  

This COP, the first in the Amazon, has been highly anticipated and seen as an opportunity to finalize unresolved issues within the Paris Agreement. However, due to a number of reasons, that might not be the case this year.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Trump administration announced last week that the United States will not send high-level representatives to COP30. One of President Trump’s day-one actions when he was inaugurated was to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement, and the administration eliminated the State Department’s dedicated climate office earlier this year. However, under Trump I, the administration still sent administration officials to COPs to vote on global agreements with a focus on relying on more carbon-intensive energy sources.

This could have several implications for DC-based advocacy.

Reduced leverage in multilateral settings. Without senior U.S. negotiators present, American influence within the Blue Zone negotiations may be diminished.

Global companies forced to comply with competing standards. As we are seeing with EU sustainability reporting standards, global companies will have to figure out how to engage with countries where they operate very interested in solidifying aggressive climate goals opposed to the United States.

Opportunity to engage with some lawmakers. In the past, both Republican and Democratic congressional delegations have attended COP and given companies and NGOs an opportunity to engage in a new setting. While several congressional delegations will still travel to Brazil, it will be more subdued than in years past.

Corporates participating in greenhushing. If Climate Week was any indication, expect to see corporates with net zero goals quietly engaging, but not publicizing their work on sustainability.

There will inevitably be a lot of news coming out of Brazil over the next few weeks. However, whether it lands and makes an impact in DC is yet to be seen.