US Governors Step Into Climate Spotlight at UN Summit — Without Trump

While President Donald Trump’s administration skipped this year’s UN climate summit in Brazil’s Amazon region, U.S. state leaders are taking center stage. Tuesday’s second day of the conference is expected to be dominated by California Governor Gavin Newsom and New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.

All eyes are on California’s charismatic governor, who oversees the world’s fourth-largest economy and has positioned himself as a vocal “Anti-Trump,” with speculation swirling about a possible 2028 presidential bid.

“We are doubling down on stupid in the United States of America,” Newsom said Monday at a Milken Institute event in São Paulo, previewing the sharp anti-Republican rhetoric he is known for. “Not in my state of California.”

During his Brazil visit, Newsom is meeting with Pará Governor Helder Barbalho—whose state capital, Belém, will host COP30—and with New Mexico’s Lujan Grisham.

Trump, who made fossil fuel expansion a key pillar of his second term, withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate accord after returning to office in January.

Yet, according to Champa Patel, executive director for governments and policy at Climate Group, U.S. states can still follow the “roadmap” left by former president Joe Biden’s climate agenda.

“The states have that roadmap, they can still follow it and keep to the spirit of Paris,” Patel told AFP. “Ultimately, it’s state-level actors that are going to implement, and the real economy is shifting,” she added, citing wind and solar growth even in Republican-led states.

Newsom plans to highlight California’s green record, including its $4.1 trillion economy—now two-thirds powered by clean energy—and its Cap-and-Invest carbon market, recently extended to 2045.

Lujan Grisham, who leads a major fossil fuel-producing state, is emphasizing her push to expand renewable energy and cut methane emissions in New Mexico’s oil and gas sector.

Still, uncertainty remains over how far state action can go. Trump’s Republican allies recently ended clean energy tax credits established under Biden—an act many see as a serious setback for renewables.

And while state and regional alliances can wield influence at climate summits, they remain excluded from the official negotiating and text-drafting process—for now.