European Union Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said the U.S. retreat on green commitments will damage the potential for global impact as well as the overall mood at the upcoming COP30 talks in Brazil, but that it points to new “partnerships and opportunities” for other nations to forge progress.

The U.S. said on Friday that it will not send high-level officials to the United Nations-sponsored events, which start this week in the Amazon city of Belém. President Trump in January initiated the country’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the global accord to address climate change, a process that takes a year.

“We’re talking about the largest, the most dominant, most important geopolitical player from the whole world. It is the second largest emitter,” Hoekstra said of the U.S., in an

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