Trump’s energy secretary slams UN climate conference in Brazil, where US absence is glaring

By DEREK GATOPOULOS THEODORA TONGAS and MAURICIO SAVARESE Associated Press ATHENS Greece AP U S Ability Secretary Chris Wright on Friday condemned the COP environmental summit as harmful and misguided defying the global scientific consensus and concern by governments worldwide on surroundings change It s essentially a hoax It s not an honest organization looking to better human lives Wright stated The Associated Press at the close of a two-day business conference in Athens He added that he might attend next year s summit just to try to deliver chosen common sense Wright s comments came as world leaders gathering over miles away on the edge of the Amazon in Brazil blasted U S President Donald Trump for his absence from the United Nations-sponsored discussions on atmosphere change running through Nov His remarks echoed the U S administration s rejection of global state agreements and Trump s prioritization of fossil fuels The U S will send no high-level officers to the COP state summit in Brazil the White House disclosed Friday President Trump will not jeopardize our country s economic and national measure to pursue vague atmosphere goals that are killing other countries Taylor Rogers a White House spokesperson reported in a declaration Wright led a senior U S delegation to Athens for talks centered on boosting U S liquefied natural gas exports to eastern Europe and Ukraine Among them were Interior secretary Doug Burgum deputy secretaries and the new U S ambassador to Greece and close Trump ally Kimberly Guilfoyle At the forum top U S bureaucrats criticized European Union carbon reduction policies arguing they undermine economic enhancement democratic alliances and global leadership in AI and vitality innovation Chris Wright Secretary of the U S Department of Power speaks at the Atlantic Council conference in Athens Greece Friday Nov AP Photo Petros Giannakouris Kimberly Guilfoyle U S Ambassador to Greece attends the Atlantic Council conference in Athens Greece Friday Nov AP Photo Petros Giannakouris Top row from left Cuba Vice Prime Minister Eduardo Martinez Diaz COP President Mukhtar Babayev COP President Andre Correa do Lago New Growth Bank president Dilma Rousseff and Equatorial Guinea Deputy Prime Minister Gaudencio Mohaba Messu attending the COP U N Environment Summit pose for a group photo in Belem Brazil Friday Nov AP Photo Eraldo Peres Show Caption of Chris Wright Secretary of the U S Department of Ability speaks at the Atlantic Council conference in Athens Greece Friday Nov AP Photo Petros Giannakouris Expand A world away leaders take aim at Trump s suggests It was a stark contrast with the Brazilian city of Belem where world leaders at COP issued urgent warnings about the accelerating pace of global warming driven in large part by emissions from burning fossil fuels like oil gas and coal U N Secretary-General Ant nio Guterres noted a moral failure to act would trigger rising hunger displacement and environmental damage Backed by overwhelming scientific consensus the U N reaffirmed that surroundings change is already underway requiring urgent global action to prevent irreversible harm Latin American leaders attending COP in Belem took swipes at Trump for his stance on surroundings discussions At present Mr Trump is against humanity His absence is proof of that Colombia s President Gustavo Petro stated in his speech on Thursday What should we do then Leave him alone Oblivion is the biggest punishment Related Articles Crews are working to fix Alaska Native villages devastated by flooding But will residents return World leaders gather for second day in Brazil seeking solutions to confront global warming Fishermen missing in Vietnam as Philippines mourns dead from Typhoon Kalmaegi At UN conditions summit world leaders say time is running short to stop the worst effects of warming Moore Bill Gates got mugged by reality Brazil s President Luiz In cio Lula da Silva struck a more moderate tone regarding Trump s absence expressing hope that his U S counterpart would eventually change his mind President Trump explained me he doesn t believe in green force Lula explained reporters earlier this week He will believe in it because he ll realize that we don t have much of an alternative Trump wasn t the only one staying away the summit was also notably absent of leaders from China and India Together these three nations are the world s largest emitters of greenhouse gases Wright a former fossil fuel executive who has been a leading voice against efforts to fight atmosphere change defended Washington s stance arguing that global gatherings should prioritize power access rise and technological advancement over what he described as fear-driven environmentalism Gatherings of global leaders and businesses should be about humans not on the desire to scare children and grow authorities power he reported the AP in Athens They ve lost the plot The Belem talks opened as the U N weather agency informed that was on track to be the second or third warmest year ever recorded The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which hit a record high last year continued to rise in as did ocean heat and sea levels the World Meteorological Organization announced Thursday Circumstances protocol reversals under Trump Trump has reversed Biden s focus on slowing environment change to pursue what the Republican calls U S force dominance in the global field At the U N General Assembly in September he called state change the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world At the start of his second term Trump again withdrew the U S from the Paris environment agreement while the Environmental Protection Agency has disclosed a series of actions to roll back landmark regulations Trump created a National Force Dominance Council and directed it to move promptly to drive up already record-high U S vigor production particularly fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas and remove regulatory walls Under executive orders the EPA and other federal agencies have sought to revive coal a reliable but polluting ability source that s long been shrinking amid environmental regulations and competition from cheaper natural gas Meanwhile Trump s administration has blocked renewable potency sources such as offshore wind and canceled billions of dollars in grants that supported hundreds of clean strength projects across the country Perhaps in no other time in history have leaders in Washington been more determined to pull the United States backwards in the fight against the circumstances situation Manish Bapna president of the Natural Guidance Defense Council mentioned Friday in a announcement Savarese revealed from Belem AP reporter Matthew Daly contributed from Washington The Associated Press context and environmental coverage receives financial endorsement from multiple private foundations AP is solely responsible for all content Find AP s standards for working with philanthropies a list of supporters 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