A coalition of 17 US state attorneys general is urging President Donald Trump's administration to not send a delegation to this year's UN Cop 30 climate summit in Brazil.
The all-Republican group, led by West Virginia attorney general John McCuskey, on Thursday said a US presence at the talks next month in Belem, Brazil, would only "serve only to legitimize such unsound science and policies" that could hurt the country's energy security.
"But at a time when demand for energy is greater than ever, the prior administration embraced Cop policies that dismantled — rather than supported — coal, oil, and gas production," the attorneys general wrote in a letter to the heads of the US Department of Energy, Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). "The Cop and other international actors favor less reliable and more expensive renewable energy sources, and that preference has proven harmful to American energy stability."
"Equally alarming," they said, are climate finance proposals that would "require the American people" to pay billions to help other countries reduce emissions.
"By refusing to participate in Cop 30, America will safeguard its national security, energy independence and economic interests."
The State Department and EPA did not respond to requests for comment on the letter or whether the US intends to send a delegation.
Brazil's president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva earlier this month said he has invited Trump to the conference. This year, countries will discuss and aim to resolve several outstanding issues, including finance and finalizing indicators for tracking adaptation action and support.
Despite withdrawing the US from the Paris climate agreement during his first term in office, Trump still sent a modest delegation to Cop 23 in Bonn, Germany. But his increased antagonism towards climate action during his second term, including another withdrawal from Paris and being more vocal about his belief that climate change is the "greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world", has raised the possibility that the US will not be present in Belem.
In addition to McCuskey, the attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming signed the letter.
