U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Friday condemned the COP30 environmental summit as harmful and misguided — defying the global scientific consensus and concern by governments worldwide on climate change.

This marks the first time the Democratic governor and likely presidential contender will attend the summit, which begins Nov. 10.

A 74% median across nine middle-income countries say global climate change is affecting their area, with droughts or water shortages a top concern.

Host Brazil will preside and set the agenda. For the talks to be a success, world leaders need to beef up efforts and money for adapting to climate change and fund billion-dollar efforts to prevent deforestation and land degradation, said Suely Vaz, who used to run Brazil’s environment agency.

In the midst of the ongoing government shutdown, a number of Democrat governors, mayors and other officials are flying to Brazil climate change convenings in Brazil. Founder and executive director of Power the Future Daniel Turner told: “Calling the shutdown a ‘disaster’ and then jetting to Brazil is politics at its phoniest.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sought to convince world powers to mobilize enough funds to halt the ongoing destruction of climate-stabilizing tropical rainforests.

Trump’s close ideological ally, President Javier Milei of Argentina called human-caused climate change a “socialist hoax,” threatened to quit the Paris Agreement and pulled Argentine negotiators out of last year’s summit in Azerbaijan as part of what he described as a reassessment of climate policy.