Original article: COP30: Petro acusó a Trump de estar «contra la humanidad» al negar la ciencia climática y llamó a crear una gran red eléctrica latinoamericana de energías limpias
COP30: Petro Criticizes Trump for Climate Science Denial and Advocates for a Pan-American Clean Energy Grid
In one of the most anticipated speeches at COP30 currently taking place in Brazil, Colombian President Gustavo Petro proposed the establishment of a «pan-American clean energy grid» utilizing solar, wind, geothermal, and hydropower sources to harness the potential across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Furthermore, Petro condemned U.S. President Donald Trump for his denial of climate science and the ongoing climate crisis, stating, «Mr. Trump is wrong. If the U.S. does not move towards decarbonization, it is 100% mistaken. By not attending here, he demonstrates that he is against humanity,» Petro asserted in remarks widely circulated.
In this regard, he not only accused Washington but also several European governments of using the topics of migration and the drug war as votes-driven distractions, labeling their policies as «Nazistic» while avoiding necessary climate actions. He further criticized Europe for its «focus on arms,» reiterating that «increasing military spending is a mistake: the true enemy is the climate crisis, not Russia.»
Regarding the present global situation, the Colombian leader questioned, «After 29 COP conferences and thousands of speeches, we are facing failure. Science measures this in temperature degrees and thermodynamic laws. The greed of major energy corporations has been immoral and inhumane,» stressing that the Earth has already surpassed the critical temperature increase threshold of 1.5 °C recognized by the scientific community.
«This is not a literary apocalypse. It is a real apocalypse,» Petro warned, indicating that humanity is entering a phase of «climatic collapse,» which could mean «the general death of existence on the planet.»
Given this scenario, he proposed creating a massive Latin American electricity network stretching from Patagonia to Alaska, interconnected with Africa, the Arab world, China, and Europe: «With $500 billion, we can generate 1,400 gigawatts of clean energy annually in Latin America and completely clean the energy matrix of the United States (…) We can clean the energy matrix of all America, including that of the U.S., without needing Trump to do this,» Petro suggested.
Listen to President Petro’s full speech (19 minutes) on the YouTube channel of the Presidency of Colombia HERE.
We will continue to provide updates. Stay tuned:
El Ciudadano
