U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Friday criticized the COP30 climate summit as “essentially a hoax” and “not an honest organization looking to better human lives,” defying global concern over climate change.
Wright told The Associated Press he might attend next year’s summit “just to try to deliver some common sense.”
The remarks came as world leaders in Belem, Brazil, condemned President Donald Trump’s absence from the United Nations-backed summit running through Nov. 21.
The Trump administration will send no high-level officials to COP30, prioritizing fossil fuels over international climate agreements.
“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 Friday.
Wright led a U.S. delegation to Athens for talks on boosting liquefied natural gas exports to Eastern Europe and Ukraine, joined by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, deputy secretaries, and U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle.
At the forum, officials criticized EU carbon reduction policies as undermining economic growth and technological leadership.
In contrast, COP30 participants in Brazil warned of accelerating global warming from fossil fuel emissions. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called inaction a “moral failure” that would worsen hunger, displacement, and environmental damage.
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said of Trump’s absence, “Today Mr. Trump is against humanity. His absence is proof of that… Oblivion is the biggest punishment.” Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed hope Trump would eventually change his mind, stating, “He will believe in [green energy], because he’ll realize that we don’t have much of an alternative.”
Trump, China, and India—the world’s top three greenhouse gas emitters—were all notably absent from the summit.
Wright, a former fossil fuel executive, defended Washington’s stance, arguing global gatherings should focus on energy access, growth, and technological advancement rather than what he called “fear-driven environmentalism.”
“Gatherings of global leaders and businesses should be about humans … not on the desire to scare children and grow government power,” Wright said. “They’ve lost the plot.”
The COP30 talks coincided with a U.N. report showing 2025 on track to be the second or third warmest year ever recorded, with greenhouse gas concentrations, ocean heat, and sea levels continuing to rise.
Since taking office, Trump has reversed Biden-era climate policies, withdrew from the 2015 Paris Agreement, created a National Energy Dominance Council, and pursued aggressive fossil fuel production. The administration has blocked offshore wind projects and canceled billions in grants for clean energy initiatives.
“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.
