In November 2025, when the annual United Nations Climate Conference lands in the city of Bellem, a small rainforest city in Brazil, it will be easy to focus on the drama and disunity of major countries. Only 21 countries have even submitted their latest plans to manage climate change before the 2025 deadline required by the Paris Agreement. The United States is withdrawing from the agreement completely.

Brazilian President Luiz Ináciolula da Silva, Chinese President Xi Jinping, may also be absent (or potential stone walls), and the U.S. delegation will occupy most of the oxygen in the negotiation hall.

You can call them out.

Trust me, I've been there. As chairman of the California Air Resources Commission, I attended the annual meeting in Bali in 2007 and in 2023 at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. Including the exciting success of 2015, when nearly 200 countries were committed to maintaining global warming by signing the Paris Agreement.

However, in recent years, real progress has been outside the room of the official United Nations negotiations, not inside. In these meetings, leaders of the state and provincial governments talked about their situation of reducing greenhouse gases and preparing for worsening climate disasters. Many bilateral and multilateral agreements emerge like mushrooms in these side-face conversations.

For example, this week, leaders of several state governments met in Brazil to discuss ways to protect rainforests that restore ecosystems while creating jobs and promoting local economies.

What are the states and provinces doing

The real action in 2025 will come from leaders of countries and provinces such as Ecuador’s Italian cake. acres and para la in Brazil; and eastern Kalimantan, Indonesia.

While political leaders of some countries are supporting their climate commitments, these sub-government governments know they must live in an increasing wave of fires, floods and deadly heat waves. Therefore, they are stepping up their efforts and sharing suggestions for effective methods.

State, provincial and local governments generally have jurisdiction over energy generation, land use programs, housing policies and waste management, all of which play a role in increasing or reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Their leaders have been looking for ways to use that power to reduce deforestation, increase the use of renewable energy, cap and cut greenhouse gas emissions, which pushes the planet to dangerous tilt points. They work together to connect the carbon market and share knowledge in many areas.

In the United States, the governor is working together in the U.S. Climate Coalition to fill the vacuum the Trump administration has put in dismantling U.S. climate policies and plans. Despite the pressure from lobbyists in the fossil fuel industry, governors in 22 states and two territories are still developing policies to reduce emissions from buildings, power generation and transportation. Together, they make up more than half of the U.S. population and nearly 60% of its economy.

Strategies for fighting forest deforestation

In Ecuador, provinces like Morona Santiago, Pastaza and Zamora Chinchipe are building management and financing partnerships with indigenous territories to protect over 4 million hectares of forest through a unique collaboration called Platformaforma Amazonica.

Brazilian countries, including Mato Grosso, have been using remote sensing technology to combat illegal land cleanups, while states such as Amapá and Amazonas are developing bioeconomic plans for community participation – arguing that jobs can be increased through sustainable local fisheries and jobs that produce super fruits. Acre, Pará and Tocantins’ plans allow the community to sell carbon credit to companies to sell carbon credit.

Mexico’s states, including Jalisco, Yucatan and Oaxaca, have developed sustainable supply chain certification programs to help reduce deforestation. Such plans can increase the economic value of some food and beverages, from avocado to honey to tequila in tequila.

Indonesia has shown real signs of success compared to the past few decades: In Indonesia, deforestation has dropped significantly, thanks in large part to the provincial leadership’s sustainable forest management efforts. In East Kalimantan, officials have been conducting policy reforms and working with plantations and forestry companies to reduce forest destruction to protect orangutan habitat.

No wonder charitable and business leaders from many sectors are turning to state and provincial policy makers rather than national governments. These sub-government governments have the ability to take timely and effective actions.

Work together to find solutions

The Governor's Climate and Forests Working Group was the then-California government, supporting many such efforts to slow deforestation. Arnold Schwarzenegger helped in 2008. It is the only government network in the world dedicated to protecting forests, reducing emissions and making people live better in tropical areas.

Today, the task force includes 43 states and provinces from 11 countries. They cover one-third of the world's tropical forests. These include all legal Amazon regions in Brazil, more than 85% of Peruvian Amazon, 65% of Mexico's tropical forests, and more than 60% of Indonesia's forests.

From a purely environmental perspective, subnational governments and governors must balance competitive interests that are not always consistent with environmentalist ideals. For example, Para State University is building an 8-mile (13 km) road to mitigate traffic that causes rainforests. California’s investment in its Lithium Valley, the lithium valley used to make batteries, could bring economic benefits within California and the United States, while also posing potential environmental risks to air and water quality.

Every governor must balance the needs of farmers, ranchers and other industries with the needs of conserving forests and other ecosystems, but those on the task force are looking for practical solutions.

From May 19 to 23, 2025, more than 20 or more secondary leaders from Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Indonesia and elsewhere gathered in Rio Blanco, Brazil to attend a meeting to protect the rainforest. They will also develop some important details for developing what is called a “new forest economy” to protect and restore ecosystems while creating jobs and promoting economies.

It is not easy to protect tropical forest habitats while creating jobs and economic opportunities. In 2023, data showed that the rainforests on the planet lost 10 football fields per minute, and more than 7% of the losses since 2000.

But states and cities are taking major steps, and many governments cannot even agree on which direction to go. It's time to focus on the United States.