This past week saw US president Donald Trump sign a presidential memorandum to formally withdraw the United States from dozens of international treaties and organisations, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Here’s how several independent and non-governmental organisations responded to the news.
Simon Stiell, executive secretary, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
“The United States was instrumental in creating the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, because they are both entirely in its national interests.
“While all other nations are stepping forward together, this latest step back from global leadership, climate cooperation and science can only harm the US economy, jobs and living standards, as wildfires, floods, mega-storms and droughts get rapidly worse. It is a colossal own goal which will leave the US less secure and less prosperous.
“It will mean less affordable energy, food, transport and insurance for American households and businesses, as renewables keep getting cheaper than fossil fuels, as climate-driven disasters hit American crops, businesses and infrastructure harder each year, and as oil, coal and gas volatility drives more conflicts, regional instability and forced migration.
“The doors remain open for the US to reenter in the future, as it has in the past with the Paris Agreement. Meanwhile, the size of the commercial opportunity in clean energy, climate resilience, and advanced electrotech remains too big for American investors and businesses to ignore.” Read more here.
David Widawsky, director, WRI US
“Pulling out of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is a strategic blunder that gives away American advantage for nothing in return. The 30-year-old agreement is the foundation of international climate cooperation. Walking away doesn’t just put America on the sidelines — it takes the US out of the arena entirely.
“American communities and businesses will lose economic ground as other countries capture the jobs, wealth, and trade created by the booming clean-energy economy.
“Despite today’s action, global climate diplomacy will not falter. Other nations understand the UNFCCC’s irreplaceable role in driving cooperation and advancing climate solutions the world urgently needs. When countries work together on climate, it saves lives, creates jobs, strengthens economic stability, and builds a more prosperous future.” Read more here.
Savio Carvalho, managing director for campaigns and networks, 350.org
“The US is shooting itself in the foot by becoming the only country in the world unwilling to participate in humanity’s great race to save the planet and future generations. Renewable energy is fast reshaping the global economy. Walking away from the UNFCCC in a desperate attempt to cling to a dying fossil fuel era won’t bring economic strength, but weakness and isolation.
“This won’t stop us from rising up to demand that the US, the world’s largest historical emitter, fulfills its moral duty to cut its emissions and support climate-vulnerable nations. It won’t stop the more than 80 countries who showed us at COP30 that they are determined to chart a roadmap for a fossil-free future.
“President Trump cannot stop the global momentum towards clean energy and climate justice – but he is ensuring that the US loses out on billions in global climate investments and surrenders its standing as a global leader, as more businesses, governments, and frontline communities build the clean energy economy of the future.” Read more here.
Amanda Leland, executive director, Environmental Defense Fund
“The Trump administration’s retreat from the effort to reduce pollution and climate disasters will hurt the American people and businesses. It will turn over leadership to other countries, and the United States will get no say in these critical decisions.
“For over 30 years, the US has followed the scientific evidence and worked alongside other countries to find a path to addressing our changing climate while ensuring economic prosperity and human health. To be the first major economy to abandon this effort would set American families and businesses back in the global energy transition – leaving them to breathe dirtier air, face worse health outcomes, pay higher energy bills, and miss out on the economic gains that come with leading the shift to a clean energy future.
“Participating in building the way forward is in the best interest of national security, energy independence, and ultimately in the best interest of the American people. States, cities, and companies must now carry the torch by taking actions within their power to lower energy costs, build up local economies, reduce climate pollution, and protect public health.” Read more here.
Dr. Rachel Cleetus, policy director and lead economist, Climate and Energy Program, Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)
“President Trump’s withdrawal of the United States from the bedrock global treaty to tackle climate change is a new low and yet another sign that this authoritarian, anti-science administration is determined to sacrifice people’s well-being and destabilise global cooperation. But forward-looking US states and the rest of the world recognise that devastating and costly climate impacts are mounting rapidly, and collective global action remains the only viable path to secure a liveable future for our children and grandchildren.
“Withdrawal from the global climate convention will only serve to further isolate the United States and diminish its standing in the world following a spate of deplorable actions that have already sent our nation’s credibility plummeting, jeopardised ties with some of our closest historical allies, and made the world far more unsafe.
“The Trump administration’s shameless lies about the scientific realities of climate change, as well as its attacks on climate and clean energy policies and federal agencies, are deeply harmful to the interests of people in the United States. This administration remains cruelly indifferent to the unassailable facts on climate while pandering to fossil fuel polluters.” Read more here.
Fenton Lutunatabua, program manager, Pacific & Caribbean, 350.org
“Global climate cooperation should not be at the mercy of the US government’s decisions, and we continue to look to our own people for true climate leadership.
“Despite rich nations stalling action, the Pacific has consistently championed an end to climate-destroying fossil fuels, and led the world to the historic climate ruling at the International Court of Justice. Now is not the time other high-polluting nations to be shirking their climate responsibilities, like the US.
“While those in power seek to tear the global community apart, it is more important than ever that we remain united in our fight to secure a safe and liveable future for our children.” Read more here.
Jean Su, energy justice director, Center for Biological Diversity
“Trump cutting ties with the world’s oldest climate treaty is another despicable effort to let corporate fossil fuel interests run our government.
“It’s foolish and downright deadly for Trump to turn his back on the climate devastation ripping across the US and the world. Pulling out of this Senate-approved climate pact and dozens of other treaties is Trump’s latest illegal executive overreach.”
“Pulling out of the UNFCCC is a different order of magnitude from the Paris Agreement. It removes the US completely from the global climate framework and negotiations. Given deeply polarised US politics, it’s going to be nearly impossible for the US to rejoin the UNFCCC with a two-thirds majority vote. Letting this lawless move stand could shut the US out of climate diplomacy forever.” Read more here.
Romain Ioulalen, global policy manager, Oil Change International
“Internationally, this withdrawal is a betrayal. The US has always been the biggest planet wrecker – the United States has been the single largest driver of increased oil and gas extraction since the Paris Agreement – and this is yet another instance of the US behaving like a rogue state and it should be treated as such on the global stage by the countries claiming to defend climate multilateralism and international cooperation.
“It is clear that the core objective of US foreign policy is now to further the interests of the fossil fuel industry, at the expense of billions around the world who will suffer the consequences. Leaders from the Global South, the countries that are most impacted and least responsible, are charting a path toward a fossil-free future.
“The rest of the world cannot wait for the US to come to its senses. While Trump turns the country into a rogue state, we must redouble global efforts to end the fossil era.” Read more here.
Dr. Delta Merner, associate accountability campaign director, Climate and Energy Program, Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)
“By pulling the United States out of the IPCC, President Trump is deliberately cutting our nation’s formal participation off from the world’s most trusted source of climate science. The IPCC is where the global scientific community rigorously assesses what we know about climate risks, impacts and solutions. Individual US scientists may still contribute, but our country will no longer be able to help guide the scientific assessments that governments around the world rely on.
“Walking away doesn’t make the science disappear, it only leaves people across the United States, policymakers, and businesses flying in the dark at the very moment when credible climate information is most urgently needed.
“This is a clear attempt to weaken scientific guardrails that protect the public from disinformation, delay and reckless decision-making. Such a move will make it easier for fossil fuel interests to distort the facts while frontline communities pay the price.” Read more here.
[Main image by Vilkasss/Pixabay]
