The “Other” Climate Summit: Why Lula Came and Von der Leyen Didn’t

A tale of two climate summits is defining the EU-CELAC meeting in Colombia. On one hand, top European officials like European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are absent, with their staff blaming “scheduling conflicts” with a major “United Nations climate summit.” On the other hand, the host of the future COP30 climate summit, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has made a pointed, surprise appearance.
This contradiction has become the story of the summit. Why is the EU’s top brass skipping a regional meeting for a climate one, while the world’s most prominent climate host (Lula) is doing the exact opposite? The answer, provided by Brazil’s own foreign ministry, is “regional solidarity with Venezuela.”
Lula’s pivot shows that, in his calculation, the immediate threat of US military action in his region is a more pressing priority than the UN climate preparations. This bold move undermines the EU’s “scheduling conflict” excuse, making it appear as either a snub or a deliberate avoidance of a difficult political confrontation.
That confrontation is being led by the host, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who is condemning a separate US operation for killing over 60 people. The absence of the EU’s top leaders has left a vacuum, which Lula has filled, alongside Petro, to focus the entire summit on US military policy.
As a result, a summit that was supposed to discuss “renewable energy”—a topic key to both the EU and Lula—is instead a “frank” debate on “extrajudicial executions.”