BRUSSELS — For decades, the EU has relied on the United States to act as shock absorber and chief power broker at global climate talks. No longer.
At the COP30 conference starting in Brazil on Monday, the unprecedented absence of its longtime ally leaves the 27-country union bearing the brunt of demands and pressures leveled at rich countries — an awkward role for the EU to take on.
In theory, the EU is the obvious candidate to step into the leadership vacuum left by the U.S. following President Donald Trump’s decision to skip the summit. After all, its climate targets and concrete policies rank among the most ambitious in the world.
Yet the bloc, increasingly steeped in doubts about its domestic green transition and short on diplomatic heft, arrives in Belém ill-equipped for the job.
