Trump’s energy secretary slams UN climate conference in Brazil, where US absence is glaring

U.S. Energy Secretary Condemns COP30 Climate Summit as “Hoax” While World Leaders Sound Alarm

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright sharply criticized the United Nations COP30 environmental summit on Friday, calling it “essentially a hoax” and “not an honest organization looking to better human lives.” His comments, made during a business conference in Athens, directly challenged the global scientific consensus on climate change and sparked immediate international backlash.

“It’s essentially a hoax. It’s not an honest organization looking to better human lives,” Wright told The Associated Press as the two-day Athens conference concluded. He added that he might attend next year’s summit “just to try to deliver some common sense.”

Wright’s remarks highlighted the stark contrast between the Trump administration’s climate policies and the urgent calls for action coming from Belem, Brazil, where world leaders have gathered for the UN-sponsored climate discussions running through November 21.

The White House confirmed Friday that no high-level U.S. officials would attend the COP30 summit. “President Trump will not jeopardize our country’s economic and national security to pursue vague climate goals that are killing other countries,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement.

Wright, a former fossil fuel executive, led a senior U.S. delegation to Greece focused on increasing American liquefied natural gas exports to Eastern Europe and Ukraine. The delegation included Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, several deputy secretaries, and newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle, a close Trump ally.

At the Athens forum, U.S. officials criticized European Union carbon reduction policies, arguing they hamper economic growth, weaken democratic alliances, and impede global leadership in AI and energy innovation.

“Gatherings of global leaders and businesses should be about humans… not on the desire to scare children and grow government power,” Wright told the AP. “They’ve lost the plot.”

Meanwhile in Brazil, world leaders expressed dismay at Trump’s absence and his administration’s dismissal of climate science. The Belem talks began as the UN weather agency announced that 2025 was on track to be the second or third warmest year ever recorded, with greenhouse gas concentrations, ocean temperatures, and sea levels continuing to rise.

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro delivered one of the harshest criticisms: “Today Mr. Trump is against humanity. His absence is proof of that,” he said in his Thursday speech. “What should we do then? Leave him alone. Oblivion is the biggest punishment.”

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took a more measured approach, expressing hope that Trump would eventually change his stance. “President Trump told me he doesn’t believe in green energy,” Lula told reporters earlier this week. “He will believe in it, because he’ll realize that we don’t have much of an alternative.”

The U.S. wasn’t alone in its absence. China and India, which along with the United States represent the world’s three largest greenhouse gas emitters, also declined to send their leaders to the summit.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that a “moral failure” to address climate change would trigger increased hunger, displacement, and environmental damage worldwide. The UN reaffirmed that climate change is already underway, requiring immediate global action to prevent irreversible harm.

Since returning to office, Trump has systematically dismantled climate policies. He withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 Paris climate agreement for a second time and established a National Energy Dominance Council to increase fossil fuel production and remove regulatory barriers. His administration has blocked renewable energy projects such as offshore wind farms and canceled billions in grants for clean energy initiatives across the country.

The Environmental Protection Agency has announced a series of actions rolling back landmark regulations, including efforts to revive the coal industry, which has been declining due to environmental regulations and competition from cheaper natural gas.

“Perhaps in no other time in history have leaders in Washington been more determined to pull the United States backwards in the fight against the climate crisis,” said Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, in a Friday statement.

Trump has repeatedly dismissed climate science, calling climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world” during his September address at the UN General Assembly.

The divergent approaches underscore the widening global divide on climate policy, with much of the international community pursuing emissions reductions while the current U.S. administration promotes fossil fuel expansion and regulatory rollbacks in pursuit of what Trump calls “energy dominance.”