Top Polluting Nations Absent from Key Amazon Climate Summit

World leaders convened in Belém, Brazil, this week for the UN’s annual climate summit, set against the backdrop of the Amazon rainforest – a fitting location for discussions on preserving Earth’s critical ecosystems. However, the gathering faces a significant challenge: leaders from the world’s three largest greenhouse gas emitters – China, the United States, and India – are notably missing from this crucial preliminary meeting.

The summit, which began Thursday, represents what many hope will be a turning point in global climate action. Attendees are focused on transforming years of climate pledges into concrete actions, including aggressive greenhouse gas reduction plans, expanded rainforest protection initiatives, and fulfilling long-promised financial commitments to clean energy projects in developing nations.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva delivered a stark warning during his opening address, emphasizing that the opportunity to prevent catastrophic climate change is rapidly disappearing. His message underscored the urgency felt by many leaders and environmental advocates who view this Amazon-hosted summit as potentially one of the last chances to coordinate meaningful global climate action.

The absence of major polluting nations has not gone unnoticed. Latin American leaders and climate activists have been particularly vocal in their criticism, with some specifically calling out former President Trump’s climate policies and the continued lack of ambitious action from the world’s biggest carbon emitters. This dynamic highlights the ongoing challenge of securing unified global commitment to climate action, even as the Amazon – often called the “lungs of the Earth” – serves as a powerful reminder of what’s at stake.