Before the United Nations’ COP30, currently underway in Brazil, Morgan Edwards and Greg Nemet penned an opinion piece published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that underscored ongoing strategies to curb global warming despite the United States’ withdrawal from climate change action.
Next week, world leaders will descend on the port city of Belém, Brazil, for the United Nations’ COP30.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the largest and most significant annual gathering in global efforts to address climate change, and the U.S. government will likely not attend. The Trump administration has made it clear that it wants no part in international efforts to take action on a rapidly warming planet.
Most significantly, he signed an executive order on his first day back in office that once again withdrew the US from the landmark Paris Agreement. The United States will join just three nations in the world – Iran, Libya, and Yemen – as countries not on the treaty that compels countries to cooperate to limit global temperature increases.
Meanwhile, the World Meteorological Organization just revealed new data showing that, in addition to carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reaching record levels in 2024, the jump in levels from 2023 was the highest year-over-year increase since the measurement began in 1957.
Record number of Americans see global warming as threat
Even before this latest addition to the long list of foreboding climate records, a spring Gallup poll showed a record number of Americans view global warming as a serious threat to them personally. Understandably, many feel frustrated or even helpless as they watch an administration gut decades’ worth of climate work, halt critical data collection, and even ban climate change-related language.
It is a tough time to be part of the 63% of Americans worried about global warming. By no means do we intend to downplay the seriousness of the federal government’s withdrawal from climate efforts, but as climate policy scholars, we think it is important to make clear that much of the work taking place in the U.S., and globally, continues apace.
By continuing to invest in electric vehicles and solar power, increasing building efficiency, and embracing sustainable urban planning, cities across the country remain steadfast in their climate goals. Hundreds of cities maintain climate action plans, and major cities continue to debut groundbreaking climate responses.
This year, Boston became the first U.S. city to require that new buildings have net-zero carbon emissions. Chicago recently realized its goal of running every municipal building on renewable energy. In many ways, the local level is where much of the climate action takes place as policy changes can be swift, impactful, and tangible.
The story is similar at the state level. Nearly every state has a climate action plan and remains committed to making progress during the current presidential administration and beyond. Many landmark climate laws and standards began at the state level, and with the bipartisan U.S. Climate Alliance, including 24 governors, states remain well poised to continue the work on climate action.
Meanwhile, rapid advances continue in the private sector as clean power technologies and adoption evolve faster than anticipated. Solar technology costs have fallen by 75% and global adoption has quadrupled since 2019. The Chinese electric car company, BYD, has begun to penetrate the U.K. market, and could soon revolutionize the automotive industry on a global scale in a way that many had expected Tesla to do. Despite the U.S. government pulling back, there are still many markets across the world with high demand for climate-friendly innovation.
Despite U.S. retreat, world moving forward on climate change
To underscore this momentum, last month we invited three of the world’s leading climate technology and policy scholars to the UW-Madison campus to talk about how the rest of the world remains serious about the threat of climate change and committed to a host of policy pathways intended to achieve the ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement.
The University of Oxford’s Steve Smith discussed how the U.K. last year became the first major economy to eliminate coal plants, with larger ambitions to achieve 100% clean energy by 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050. This plan would provide the additional benefit of creating 400,000 jobs, according to the British government.
Jan Minx of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, provided a European Union perspective, noting that the 27 E.U. countries are still firmly on board with climate action strategies outlined in their European Green Deal. Like in the U.K., their plan aims for 2050 climate neutrality, with 50% of emission reductions coming as early as 2030.
A leader in EU climate action, Germany plans to fully phase out coal plants by 2038 and has an even more ambitious target of climate neutrality by 2045, according to Minx.
Joana Portugal Pereira brought a timely perspective given that her home country, Brazil, is host of the upcoming COP30. After stalling during the Bolsonaro presidency, Brazil’s climate efforts have been jumpstarted in the Lula da Silva administration.
With some of the most unique climate challenges in the world, including the increasingly fragile Amazon rainforest that lies just beyond the COP30 host city of Belém, Pereira acknowledged that her country still had a great deal of work to do. Its energy sector still produces two-thirds of its emissions, and its high rates of meat consumption mean a significant environmental footprint for the agricultural sector.
However, she noted that Brazil was among the first to submit its climate plan ahead of COP30. The country pledges to cut emissions by as much as two-thirds by 2035 compared to 2005 levels. Brazil’s redoubled efforts couldn’t come sooner. As a country already reeling from the impacts of a warming climate, Pereira explained that more than 90% of Brazilians are concerned about climate change and 95% agree they are currently experiencing a climate crisis.
Top COP30 storyline: 95% of world committed to Paris Agreement
Between a host nation desperately wanting to burnish its climate action bona fides (while simultaneously approving drilling in the Amazon), the lingering controversies surrounding COP29, and a potential U.S. absence, COP30 is likely to deliver plenty of storylines.
But ultimately, the main story is that the movement to limit warming and mitigate the effects of climate change is always a work in progress – and much larger than any one country. More than 95% of the world’s countries remain committed to the Paris Agreement. Thousands of states, provinces, territories, and cities across the world – where much of the most critical work takes place – continue the work.
Most importantly, billions of people continue to yearn for a sustainable world. These are the voices that should echo loudest in Belém next week.