A Trump-shaped hole is hanging over the climate talks

UN climate talks begin in Brazil on Monday, and delegations from almost every country will gather in the foothills of the Amazon rainforest to discuss how to tackle the climate crisis.

However, the administration of US President Donald Trump will also make a notable absence. of the White House approved It does not intend to send any high-level representatives to the summit, marking an unprecedented absence of US officials at the conference.

Around 50,000 delegates are expected to attend the 30th edition of the UN climate conference, known as COP30, with talks expected to last until 21 November.

Anna Aberg, a research fellow at the Center for Environment and Society at Chatham House, a London-based think tank, said it was probably a positive for the international community that the Trump administration did not send any officials to Belem.

“It’s really unfortunate, of course, that the Trump administration is withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement for the second time and pursuing this very strong anti-climate agenda both in the United States and increasingly abroad,” Aberg told CNBC by phone.

“In light of that, I honestly think it’s good that they’re not sending any senior officials to the COP because I don’t know what contribution they can make given the way Trump talks about climate change.”

Trump’s views on the climate crisis are well known.

The US president has repeatedly called global warming a “hoax” and said in a speech to the UN General Assembly in late September: in question He said climate change was “the greatest fraud ever committed in the world.”

Trump too persistently Other countries are moving away from renewable energy. “If you don’t move away from the green energy scam, your country will fail,” Trump said on September 23.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are among other heads of state expected to skip the talks, but both countries are preparing to send delegations in their places.

The annual UN climate summit is seen as an important opportunity for the international community to move from setting decarbonization targets to achieving them.

Some of the key issues that will be discussed include meeting national climate commitments (NDCs), transforming the global financial system, increasing adaptation measures and taking steps to protect nature.

The conference takes place at a time when the effects of climate change are increasing. This is becoming increasingly clear, even as the issue has relegated to the bottom of the immediate geopolitical agenda.

Speaking to world leaders preparing to gather for COP30, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said: urgent action lowering global temperatures and keeping the 1.5 degrees Celsius target achievable.

“Every little bit means more hunger, displacement and loss, especially for those least responsible. This could push ecosystems beyond tipping points of no return, expose billions of people to uninhabitable conditions and increase threats to peace and security,” Guterres said in Belém on Thursday. he said.

He added that failure to limit global warming would amount to “moral failure and fatal negligence.”

Chatham House’s Aberg said one of the most important issues at stake at COP30 was the international community’s support for global efforts to combat the climate crisis.

“We’re in a really challenging geopolitical environment, especially given the US withdrawal, and there’s a lot of things that this COP needs to achieve,” Aberg said. he said.

“But I actually think the most important thing it can do is send a signal to the rest of the world that there are still governments and businesses and institutions that want to take action on climate change and want to take action on climate change.”

Like many others, Aberg said the UN talks would be “really important” in shaping the debate on how to deal with the climate crisis, but that the outcome would likely be inadequate.

Business leaders have called on policymakers to provide more incentives to help accelerate climate action.

Skanska CEO Anders Danielsson, for example, said he was confident the Swedish construction company could meet its own climate goals, while also admitting that “we can’t do it on our own.”

Speaking to CNBC’s “European Early Edition” on Thursday, Danielsson said: “We need the political will to move this forward.”

Tobias Meyer, chief executive of logistics giant DHL Group, said he “strongly” believes a global carbon price would be the best incentive to help stop rising greenhouse gas emissions.

“I think we need to get the job done,” Meyer told CNBC on Thursday. “We need a price [on] CO2 emissions that need to be done globally. This is the best tool. “Once we strongly believe this, businesses need to react to these price signals and use existing technology to reduce emissions.”

Meanwhile, Henrik Andersen, CEO of the Danish wind turbine company Vestas urged renewable industry leaders to continue making their voices heard in the transition to low-carbon technologies.