Europe and Latin America are seizing climate leadership, forging new alliances on clean energy and critical minerals as U.S. influence and interest on climate change recede
With the postponement of the Summit of the Americas in the Dominican Republic and Washington considering military intervention in Venezuela, multilateralism in the Western Hemisphere appears to be dead -- at least for the United States. However, two important international forums are forging ahead: the CELAC-EU Summit in Santa Marta, Colombia and COP30 in Belém, Brazil. Both offer diplomatic opportunities for Latin America and the EU to strengthen cooperation on clean energy and critical minerals supply chains. Given U.S. disengagement on renewable energy and climate multilateralism, a new frontier for EU-Latin American relations could soon be on the horizon, offering greater possibilities for strategic economic and political alliances in the future.
For Latin America and Europe, these gatherings offer a platform to further explore and develop partnerships in sustainable mining and critical minerals, joint investment in renewable energy and green hydrogen, and cooperation to develop battery manufacturing and green industrial clusters. At COP30, U.S. disengagement is all but guaranteed. Not only is the U.S. government unbothered by the projections of the international scientific community, but it is also at loggerheads with the host government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil. Similarly, the relationship between the United States and Colombia is at its lowest point in decades, amid bitter feuding between President Trump and President Gustavo Petro of Colombia.
However, at COP30, it is unlikely that U.S. disinterest will reduce the ambitions of government delegations committed to promoting climate action and private sector participants that hope to lead in the new energy economy. After all, the international community has been here before. Yet, the U.S. playing spoiler is not without consequence. In Colombia, the bad blood between Trump and Petro has apparently led several European leaders to skip the CELAC-EU Summit altogether to avoid irking the U.S. administration. Even so, for Europe, the lack of U.S. involvement should not impede bridge-building with Latin America on climate and conservation issues. In fact, the United States is arguably opening space for European countries to play a bigger role in unlocking Latin America's potential as a major player for the global energy transition. Since the EU first launched its European Green Deal in 2019 to mobilize $1 trillion in funding this decade, it has become the primary contender in a race with China to secure critical raw materials and build out clean energy infrastructure. However, to lead the world in decarbonization, Europe is in search of allies.
The competition over access to critical minerals and the manufacturing of clean energy technologies is as much about sustainability as it is about creating a geostrategic hedge against economic dependencies on autocratic leaders. Since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the EU has decreased its natural gas imports and dependency on the Kremlin, an adversary that sees the European energy transition as a threat to its ability to project power through the weaponization of energy supply chains. With Europe now more reliant on energy imports from the United States, the Trump Administration has become drawn to the unlikely scenario that Europe will import as much as $750 billion in U.S. oil and gas by 2028. For now, Europe is looking to the Western Hemisphere for diversification and long-term energy solutions, as it seeks cooperation and new partnerships in Latin America to secure energy independence through clean energy technologies.
The Trump administration is also in the market for critical minerals, but it has mostly focused on supplies elsewhere, including in Ukraine, and Greenland. China, by contrast, has moved aggressively in search of copper, nickel, lithium, and other resources to secure the energy supply chains of the 21 century, which Beijing has and will continue to dominate, without greater U.S. and EU engagement in the Americas. The lack of a U.S. presence in these multilateral forums hurts only the levers of U.S. foreign and economic policy to negotiate new engagements and create economic opportunities in a world that, albeit very slowly, is working to transition away from fossil fuels. To be specific, it may end up hurting U.S. access to critical minerals. Take for example, Brazil, the COP30 host, which is rich in rare earths as well as other critical minerals, such as lithium and nickel. Equally important are countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Peru -- all of which hold immense resources, from copper, nickel, graphite, and lithium to rare earth deposits.
These summits -- despite persistent skepticism regarding the pace and effectiveness of global environmental cooperation -- remain critical for Latin America and Europe. They provide a framework for deepening economic relations that can enable large-scale decarbonization and electrification. Through continued engagement in multilateral forums such as CELAC and COP30, both regions have the opportunity to advance a shared vision for sustainable development. Efforts to build resilient supply chains, expand clean energy technologies, and strengthen climate cooperation are increasingly aligning European and Latin American interests. The central question is whether this alignment will result in a transactional relationship centered on raw materials and investment, or if it might evolve into a strategic partnership in which both regions act as co-architects of a sustainable and multipolar energy future.