SÃO PAULO — Gavin Newsom is about to take the stage at a global climate summit where world leaders are scarce — and a turn in the spotlight is wide open.
The California Democratic governor’s task at United Nations climate talks in Belém, Brazil, this week isn’t to negotiate sweeping policy changes or break into closed-door talks reserved for nations. It’s to put on a show: proving his state is still cutting emissions despite President Donald Trump’s rollbacks, nudging governments and businesses to do the same, and reminding the world that the U.S. might one day pick the climate agenda back up — perhaps under a President Newsom.
“California is going to try to do our best to hold up a mirror to Trump’s policies,” Newsom said in an interview ahead of the conference. “We’ll call out the fact that you can grow your economy and at the same time change the way you produce and consume energy. We have the receipts on that.”
It’s a well-rehearsed role for California, which has staked out a leading role in international climate diplomacy for decades under both Democratic and Republican governors. The Trump administration’s dismantling of climate policies to favor oil and gas interests — and planned absence from the Brazil talks — only give California more space to fill, said former Gov. Jerry Brown (D), who got a hero’s welcome himself at the United Nations climate talks in 2017, the first year of Trump’s first term.
