ATHENS, Greece (AP) — U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Friday condemned the COP30 environmental summit as harmful and misguided — defying the global scientific consensus and concern by governments worldwide on climate change.

“It’s essentially a hoax. It’s not an honest organization looking to better human lives,” Wright told The Associated Press at the close of a two-day business conference in Athens. He added that he might attend next year’s summit “just to try to deliver some common sense.”

Wright’s comments came as world leaders gathering over 5,000 miles away, on the edge of the Amazon in Brazil, blasted U.S. President Donald Trump for his absence from the United Nations-sponsored discussions on climate change running through Nov. 21. His remarks echoed the U.S. administration’s rejection of global climate agreements and Trump’s prioritization of fossil fuels.

The U.S. will send no high-level officials to the COP30 climate summit in Brazil, the White House said Friday.

“President Trump will not jeopardize our country’s economic and national security to pursue vague climate goals that are killing other countries,” Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement.