ANTALYA, Türkiye (The Thursday Times) — A delegation of 18 Democratic members of the US Congress arrived at the COP31 climate summit in Antalya on Saturday, telling delegates that the United States would try to win back the trust it lost when President Donald Trump walked away from global climate talks.
The lawmakers came to Türkiye days after their party took control of both the House and the Senate in the US midterm elections, a result that climate campaigners at the summit have greeted as a turning point.
“Many of our allies and partners across the world think the United States has not been predictable or dependable. So we have a lot of trust to earn back,” said Representative Kathy Castor of Florida. “I hope the United States gets back on track with urgent climate action.”
‘Climate action is alive’
Castor, Representative Raul Ruiz of California, and Representative Yassamin Ansari of Arizona spoke at a panel on the election results at the “America Is All In” pavilion, where the crowd spilled out of the doors.
“Despite the setbacks that we’re experiencing through this Trump administration, climate action is alive in America,” Ruiz told the panel.
Ansari called it “absolutely shameful” that the administration was “filled with climate deniers” and “beholden to big oil”.
Since returning to office in January 2025, Trump has pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement, rolled back clean energy rules, promoted oil drilling, and kept American negotiators away from the UN talks. US governors and mayors, the former vice president Al Gore, and the former climate envoy John Kerry visited COP31 earlier this week to show that states and cities are still pressing ahead.
Two more years of veto power
Democrats have promised to use their new majorities to investigate the administration’s climate policies and to bring forward clean energy bills. Trump, who has two years left in office, has vowed to veto them.
Ansari said that would be hard to do. “At a time where Americans from all political backgrounds want to see their energy bills reduced, this administration will be very hard pressed to veto legislation that will bring down costs for the American people,” she said.
Anger over soaring energy prices and the costly war with Iran was a large part of the Republican defeat. Delegates in Antalya, where negotiators are again debating a transition away from fossil fuels, hope the result will bring back some US clean energy policies and, in two years, a president who backs climate action.
“What happened in the US is remarkable, and a much needed shift that we all needed, not only from a climate perspective, but overall,” said Harjeet Singh, a strategic adviser to the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative.
Pakistan has used the summit to ask partners to fund batteries for households going solar.
