BELEM – California Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the United States’ absence from pivotal United Nations climate discussions, labeling it as “doubling down on stupid.” He warned that this decision could jeopardize the nation’s status as an economic leader.

Newsom, a Democrat with potential presidential aspirations for 2028, stands out among several U.S. governors and mayors attending the U.N. climate summit in Belem, Brazil. Their collective presence aims to assure the 195 participating countries that while federal policies under the Trump administration have rolled back environmental regulations and supported fossil fuel industries like coal, many U.S. states are actively pursuing environmental sustainability through renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

President Donald Trump has continued his earlier stance by withdrawing the United States from the 2015 Paris Agreement, which established global targets for reducing temperature increases.

Newsom, representing the largest U.S. state by population, starkly contrasts with Trump’s absence from the discussions. He criticized the President’s decision, stating it sends a message to the international community: “You don’t matter, we don’t care.”

In an exclusive interview with the Associated Press at the Belem climate talks, located near the Amazon rainforest, Newsom remarked, “The notion that we can isolate ourselves with walls, tariffs, or indifference is sheer madness. The rest of the world understands this, which is why they are moving in a different direction.”

Green energy transition and China’s dominance

Even Russia and Saudi Arabia get it and are going green, but not Trump, Newsom said. U.N. organizers said only four nations are absent from the negotiations called COP30: Strife-torn Afghanistan and Myanmar, tiny San Marino and the United States, which over the century has put more heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the air than any other nation.

California, with nearly 40 million residents, is a major economic hub and on the forefront of national climate policy. But the Trump administration has sought to role back the state’s power to set aggressive climate policy, most notably by blocking a California regulation to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars within the next decade.

“This Trump administration, his acolytes and the supine Congress led by Speaker (Mike) Johnson, are doubling down on stupid,” Newsom said.

“We’re ceding cheap energy, green energy, infrastructure, supply chain manufacturing. We’re ceding economic power to other countries, notably China, taking advantage of that absence,” Newsom said. “And they’re going to clean our clock economically unless we wake up to the economic imperative and opportunities of low carbon regrowth.”

Trump, who actively solicited money from the fossil fuel industry during his last campaign, has massively deregulated industry that spews heat-trapping gas and cut subsidies to renewable energy. This would give America — the No. 1 oil producer in the world — energy independence and cheaper prices, he has said.

“Governor Newscum flew all the way to Brazil to tout the Green New Scam, while the people of California are paying some of the highest energy prices in the country. Embarrassing!,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement, using one of Trump’s favored nicknames for Newsom. “President Trump will not allow the best interest of the American people to be jeopardized by the Green Energy Scam. These Green Dreams are killing other countries, but will not kill ours thanks to President Trump’s common sense energy agenda.”

Climate impacts in California and around the world

Climate change is undeniable, despite Trump calling it a hoax, Newsom said.

“If you don’t believe in science, and a lot of people apparently don’t, you have to believe in your own eyes,” Newsom said. “Nighttime temperatures, record-breaking heat globally, acidification of our oceans, impacts on our coral reefs. You’re not able to go where your grandfather brought you for the first time, your dad brought you and bring your kids because there’s another fire and it’s another closure and the air quality’s been degraded.”

California has warmed 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius) in the past 30 years and gets nearly 7 inches of rain (17.7 centimeters) less now than it did in 1995, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records.

Some of California’s largest and most destructive wildfires in history have sparked in the last five years, including two January infernos that devastated neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles. The previous winter, meanwhile, brought record-breaking rainfall as multiple atmospheric rivers pounded the state.

“I’m just privileged to represent one of the most blessed and cursed states in the world that’s on the tip of the spear of the impacts of climate change,” Newsom said. “How about the simultaneous crisis of wildfires, drought, and floods stacked on top of each other.”

“Anyone paying attention here?” added Newsom.

California’s ambitious climate goals and challenges

At home, Newsom has confronted the economic and political realities of pursuing the state’s ambitious goal of by 2045 reaching carbon neutrality, or taking as much carbon pollution from the atmosphere as emitted. He recently signed legislation to boost oil production in part of the state and his party has grappled with how to confront high gas prices. California also has some of the highest electricity rates in the country.

California is also dealing with the massive energy and water demands of data centers by keeping its last nuclear plant running longer than planned, adding huge chunks of solar power and battery storage and investing in nuclear fusion, Newsom said. Those energy needs will grow as AI continues to boom. Many of the nation’s top AI companies are headquartered in California.

Veteran climate negotiations analyst Alden Meyer of the European think tank E3G said it was unfortunate that America’s federal government was not participating in the talks.

“But it is very positive that we have these other leaders from the United States that are here in Belem,” he said.

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Anton L. Delgado in Belem, Brazil, and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

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