BELEM, Brazil (AP) — World leaders warned Thursday that time is running short for urgent and decisive action to prevent the worst effects of climate change, and blasted the United States for its retreat from those efforts, as they gathered at the edge of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest for the annual United Nations climate summit.

The 30th Session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) will take place in Belém, Brazil, marking a major moment for global climate action.

In the midst of the ongoing government shutdown, a number of Democrat governors, mayors and other officials are flying to Brazil climate change convenings in Brazil. Founder and executive director of Power the Future Daniel Turner told: “Calling the shutdown a ‘disaster’ and then jetting to Brazil is politics at its phoniest.

Diplomacy ditched its stuffy tie for once at a climate meeting in Belem, Brazil, where Thursday's Amazonian heat saw leaders and bureaucrats eagerly remove what is normally considered a summit fashion must.

The delegation Evers and Grisham were put in charge of leading is made up of more than 100 local leaders including “U.S. governors, mayors, and other top city and state officials.”

Brazil has unveiled long-awaited details about a plan to pay countries to preserve their tropical forests and announced it had already drawn $5.5 billion in financial pledges.

Brazil, which is hosting the 30th U.N. Climate Change Conference this month, wants to show the world it is a leader in safeguarding the planet. Its record tells a more complicated story.