The United States government has no official presence at the United Nations climate talks in Türkiye, marking the second consecutive year the Trump administration has skipped the annual summit.
At a High Ambition Coalition news conference, the group was asked how COP31 could deliver a comprehensive response to the climate crisis without the US, the world’s second-largest polluter, being present.
Marshall Islands Minister-in-Assistance to the President and Environment, Jess Gasper, responded by saying the US was critical, like all major emitters.
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“The Marshall Islands and the US have a unique partnership at every level, not only Federal but also State and local decision can make major decisions in the US joining this fight but just because the US is not here, doesn’t mean that work doesn’t move on.”
A similar question by a US journalist was raised during the press conference of the COP31 Presidency.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change executive secretary Simon Stiell acknowledged that this was the second year the US government had not attended the climate summit.
But he said that, as in Belém at COP30 in 2025, this year would see even greater representation from US sub-national and non-state actors.
“And what we have seen despite decisions and positions that are taken at a federal level, there is still significant appetite in the US and commitment to the Paris Agreement at a sub-national level, and that will be reflected and contribute to the overall tone of this year’s COP.”
The High Ambition Coalition was established in 2015 by the Marshall Islands with the aim of ensuring the Paris Agreement, adopted that year, was as ambitious as possible.
The coalition helped to secure the 1.5°C temperature goal.
‘We need action’
Tuvalu’s Climate Change and Environment Minister Dr Maina Vakafua Talia said COP31 must respond to the 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature goal to save climate vulnerable countries like his.
A new UN report said global warming beyond 1.5°C is now inevitable and the world must limit the “overshoot” as much as possible before reversing it.
Dr Talia said the summit would not succeed unless it responded to the overshoot.
“We need action across all pillars of the Paris Agreement to do so, as the host of the second conference on transitioning away from fossil fuel, Tuvalu is also committed to accountability and progress on this vital commitment which we all made, and now must deliver.
“We are already doing so in the Pacific and will continue to do that.”
The Pacific led the global fight to secure the 1.5°C temperature goal under Paris. For these countries, it is not just an arbitrary number; it’s a threshold for survival — the catchcry is “1.5 to stay alive”.
Minister Gasper said his people have already experienced displacement.
He said they were forced from their homeland of Bikini Atoll by nuclear weapons testing.
“I know what it means for people to lose their homes, and I refuse to accept that another generation of Marshallese should face displacement because the world fails to act,” he said.
“That is why we are here today, more than a decade ago, the High Ambition Coalition helped placed the 1.5°C degree temperature limit at the heart of the Paris Agreement.
“Today that limit is in serious danger.”
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