In the absence of U.S. federal climate disclosure rules, states are stepping up more than ever to deal with the climate crisis. California is a prime example, with the potential to play a particularly important role, and it showed up with muscles flexed (com força) at the year’s biggest global climate event – the annual COP meeting.
The 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference – known as COP 30 – is convening in Belem, Brazil from November 10-21. Tens of thousands of political officials and negotiators, scientists, advocates, and activists attend each COP meeting in person, and millions more look on from around the world.
But this year, not a single official from the U.S. administration – the world’s biggest carbon emitter historically – is attending. As California Governor Gavin Newsom and his delegation of state leaders draw the spotlight in Belem, we are reminded of California’s economic power. The state’s economy is the fourth-largest in the world, following just three countries (the U.S., China, and Germany), and far larger than Texas or New York.
In Brazil, Newsom announced that his state is “going to compete” in the world economy by leaning into climate-smart policies and investments, signaling there are economic and political winnings to be reaped from climate leadership. Any other direction is “dumb,” he said, citing President Donald Trump’s efforts to encourage other countries to increase investment in fossil fuels. This “is about our economic competitiveness, period, full stop,” Newsom has said.
Described by Bloomberg News as sweeping into COP 30 “with all the fanfare of a head of state,” Newsom has “effectively become the highest-ranking US emissary” in Belem. His presence has underscored the “growing influence of state-level leadership” for climate action on the world stage, Reuters wrote. Asked whether California is standing in for the U.S., Newsom said “absolutely,” per the LA Times.
It is worth watching whether other U.S. states – and even cities – can build on CA’s momentum and position themselves as added counterweight to the U.S. federal administration’s absence. Wisconsin’s and New Mexico’s governors were also in attendance at COP 30; the three states are members of the U.S. Climate Alliance, a coalition of bipartisan state leaders.
At the same time, Newsom is widely discussed as a leading candidate for the Democrats’ presidential ticket in 2028. It is from this elevated platform that he demands attention for climate action as key to the U.S.’ economic success and physical security.
We will see if a climate-forward strategy returns political strength to Newsom. If so, it may embolden the Democratic Party to make climate change a bigger issue in their strategy over the next several years.
Linking climate action with affordability is beginning to emerge as a Democratic talking point. Newsom has said Democrats should consider climate change a “cost of living issue,” the New York Times reported. At least one U.S. city leader is sending the same message: the incoming mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, reportedly considers climate and quality of life “in fact, one and the same” concern.
If the Brazil trip boosts Newsom’s global profile and his favorability at home, it could point to climate leadership as a political strength as the country moves forward.
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