With the United States absent from the annual U.N. climate summit for the first time in three decades, China is emerging as the most prominent global player at COP30 in Belem, Brazil, filling a diplomatic, technological and symbolic void once occupied by Washington.
China’s presence is unmistakable. Its pavilion dominates the entrance of the vast conference grounds, now one of the summit’s most visible attractions.
Executives from China’s leading clean-energy giants, including battery maker CATL, electric vehicle manufacturer BYD and solar leaders Trina and Longi, are drawing large international crowds with polished presentations in English.
Diplomats say Beijing is also quietly shaping consensus behind the scenes.
“Water flows to where there is space, and diplomacy often does the same,” Francesco La Camera, director general of the International Renewable Energy Agency, told Reuters.
He said China’s dominance in renewable energy and electric vehicles is reinforcing its growing influence.
China’s expanding role reflects a fundamental shift since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to office.
A longtime critic of global climate agreements, Trump has withdrawn the United States, historically the largest emitter, from the Paris Agreement for a second time, and this year declined to send any high-level delegation to COP30.
“President Trump will not jeopardize our country’s economic and national security to pursue vague climate goals that are killing other countries,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said.
Critics say the withdrawal is ceding important ground to China, now the world’s biggest current emitter but also the largest producer of wind and solar power. California Governor Gavin Newsom, attending the summit, warned that the U.S. is falling dangerously behind.
“China gets it,” Newsom said. “America is toast competitively if we don’t wake up to what they’re doing, on supply chains, manufacturing, and flooding the zone with clean-energy tech.”
China’s presence at COP30 is far larger than in past years, when its pavilion was often modest and mostly academic. This year it sits beside host country Brazil, offering sustainable Chinese single-origin coffee, panda-themed tokens, and high-profile events.
“Let’s advance climate cooperation and build a clean, beautiful world together,” CATL vice president Meng Xiangfeng told a packed audience.
CATL, supplier to Tesla, Ford and Volkswagen, is hosting events at the summit for the first time, seeking deeper engagement with governments and NGOs.
Earlier, China’s vice minister of ecology Li Gao emphasized that China’s dominance in renewable production “brings benefits to countries, particularly in the Global South.”
COP30 leaders, including summit president André Corrêa do Lago and CEO Ana de Toni, praised China’s scale and ability to make low-carbon technology more affordable worldwide.
Beyond the spotlight, diplomats say China is filling the U.S. role in helping steer negotiations toward viable agreements.
According to Brazilian and emerging-economy officials, China helped secure consensus on the summit’s agenda, something Washington traditionally spearheaded.
“Little by little, China is acting as a guarantor of the climate regime,” said one senior diplomat, noting that Beijing’s massive green investments give it a stake in global climate stability.
Sue Biniaz, former U.S. deputy climate envoy and a key architect of the Paris Agreement, credited China’s ability to bridge divides among developing countries.
However, she questioned whether its political ambitions match its technological reach, citing Beijing’s relatively modest pledge to cut emissions at least 7% from their peak by 2035.
Some analysts argue that China’s leadership now comes less from rhetoric and more from its industrial might.
“The most powerful country isn’t the one with the loudest microphone at COP,” said Li Shuo of the Asia Society Policy Institute’s China Climate Hub, “but the one actually producing and investing in low-carbon technologies.”
With the U.S. stepping back and China moving assertively forward, COP30 has become the clearest illustration yet of a reshaped global climate order, one in which Beijing is increasingly at the center of both the technology and the diplomacy guiding the future of the planet.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
