The latest round of U.N. climate talks began Monday on the edge of the Amazon rainforest in Belem, Brazil, with world leaders urging faster, united action to combat global warming — but notably without participation from the United States.

André Corrêa do Lago, president of this year’s conference, known as COP30, urged negotiators to embrace “mutirão” — a Brazilian word meaning collective effort for a common goal. “Either we decide to change by choice, together, or we will be imposed change by tragedy,” he wrote to delegates Sunday.

The absence of the U.S. loomed large. The Trump administration has again withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, the landmark 10-year-old global pact to reduce carbon emissions. The U.S., historically the largest emitter of carbon dioxide, has released more heat-trapping gases than any other country since the industrial era began.

“This geopolitical moment is particularly difficult,” said Ilana Seid, Palau’s ambassador and chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, which faces severe threats from rising sea levels. “The U.S. withdrawal has really shifted the gravity of the negotiations.”

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Former U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern said Trump’s decision undermines progress: “It’s better they didn’t send anyone — they wouldn’t have been constructive.”

Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe of The Nature Conservancy compared the talks to a potluck dinner where each nation brings a contribution. “The U.S. won’t be showing up with a dish,” she said, though states, cities, and businesses might help fill the gap.

U.N. climate chief Simon Stiell warned that while the Paris Agreement is working, “we must accelerate in the Amazon” to confront worsening climate disasters worldwide.

Source: AP