What the U.S. Absence at COP30 Tells Us NYT | Top Stories Somini Sengupta, Katrin Bennhold, Christina Thornell, Leila Medina and Stephanie Swart 14 November 2025 at 07:42 World leaders are meeting at the COP30 this week to discuss climate. The U.S. was not part of this meeting. Somini Sengupta, our international climate reporter, discusses what this absence means.