Overview
- Speaking in São Paulo ahead of COP30, Gov. Gavin Newsom called the Trump administration’s decision not to send high-level representatives disrespectful and described a vacuum of U.S. leadership.
- Newsom highlighted California’s climate actions, including a new law extending the state’s cap-and-trade program through 2045 under a rebranded cap-and-invest approach, and pointed to rising EV sales.
- His Belém schedule includes a first meeting with Germany’s Jochen Flasbarth to discuss renewing a 2017 climate accord, a meeting with Baden‑Württemberg Environment Minister Thekla Walker, and planned plenary remarks later this week.
- He contrasted California’s push with federal rollbacks such as Congress overturning the state’s vehicle emissions standards, and he criticized new U.S. tariffs on Brazilian goods as “shameful.”
- Newsom warned that China is sprinting ahead in clean energy, even as California’s own credibility faces tests like being off track for its 2045 neutrality goal and recent policy backtracks.