Talks up California

Newsom talks up California as highest-profile American at COP30

By Anabel Sosa

In the wake of a decisive victory last week with the passage of Proposition 50, Gov. Gavin Newsom is testing the presidential waters even further as he travels overseas for his first COP conference. The leader of the fourth-largest economy, the governor is the most high-profile U.S. official slated to attend and is arguably traveling to Brazil, where COP30 is taking place, more as a proxy than as a participant.  

“The reason I’m here is in the absence of leadership coming from the United States. This vacuum. It’s rather jaw dropping. Not one representative. Not one,” Newsom said on Monday during a fireside chat with Richard Ditizio, the CEO of the Milken Institute, a global footprint think tank.

He pointed out the glaring absence of U.S. officials: “It’s a global competitive responsibility for us to assert ourselves more forcefully in the absence of national leadership.”

Newsom spoke from São Paolo to a room of business executives and investors. He traveled to Belém for the remainder of the week, where global leaders will work to turn ideas into actionable plans around clean energy transition, artificial intelligence and global trade wars, all issues expected to take center stage. 

Notably absent from negotiations is President Donald Trump.

This is Newsom’s first COP appearance and also his first international trip in the capacity as governor since he attended the inauguration of Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum last year, the governor’s office told SFGATE. 

Newsom on Monday gave a few words of caution to kick off the week: “America’s toast competitively if we don’t wake up to what the hell they’re doing,” he said. He continued to say he was taken aback by the state of political affairs in the country.

“I’m stunned. I’m just stunned. I’ve got four kids. What the hell is going on with my country?” he said. “Not one person from the administration shows any respect to any of you.”

Newsom’s climate ambitions have generally been friendly toward the clean energy sector. He has recently championed big strides in situating the state as a clean energy leader and stood strong on California’s ban on new gas cars, aiming to completely shift consumers to electric-powered cars by 2035. Those efforts have been stunted by Republicans, but Newsom’s team has insisted the electric grid will continue to be built. In September, Newsom also signed a flurry of legislation on the promise of saving consumers money on their energy bills and “making polluters pay for projects that support our most impacted communities.”

Newsom has also been perceived as getting cozy with big oil, particularly after signing legislation this year that would allow more oil drilling in the state’s Central Valley. The governor defended the move at the time as a way to keep gas prices down.

He even referred to a potentially career-ending move he made in 2022 when he decided to extend the life of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in San Luis Obispo County. That decision came after promising to close the state’s last remaining nuclear plant.

“I thought it would end my term,” he said on Monday, but “my term was extended for four years and turned out to not be as consequential as I thought.”

He made a point to refer to himself on Monday, to a room of investors, as a “proud capitalist” while, based on his responses during the hourlong panel, appearing steadfast on California’s position as a leading economy and innovator in the climate-friendly energy transition.

He also praised the construction of a battery plant in the town of Cantua Creek, in western Fresno county, which he said was “the fastest we’ve ever installed” a plant. 

But residents at the time pushed back on that project, which was one of the largest solar installations in the entire state, saying that it threatens the farmworker community, where nearly a third of residents are living in poverty. In a public letter, members of the community wrote to the state that the project at the time had “the potential to either set the stage for an equitable, just transition or, conversely, to continue patterns of disinvestment in low-income communities of color.”

“I need a job,” he said, adding that “we’ll see what the hell happens.” 

Newsom added that he has been “very animated” by what’s going on in the country. “I just feel this is an existential moment. I really do,” he continued. “… I don’t think it’s a gross exaggeration, nor do I think it would be challenged by President Donald Trump himself, that my country may be unrecognizable to you in a year or two.”