The United States, world’s largest historical polluter, will now withdraw completely from the global climate change mitigation agreement.
President Donald Trump has withdrawn the US from over 60 international organisations, including UN bodies and the India-France-led International Solar Alliance, calling the institutions “redundant” and “contrary” to America’s interests.
Trump signed the memorandum on Wednesday titled ‘Withdrawing the United States from International Organisations, Conventions, and Treaties that Are Contrary to the Interests of the United States’.
Donald Trump withdraws US from 66 Organisations including UN Climate Convention and Global Climate Treaty
President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing the United States to withdraw from 66 international organizations and treaties, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
This would mean the US, world’s largest historical polluter, will now withdraw completely from the global climate change mitigation agreement and scientific assessment of climate change. It also means US will not do its fair share in climate change mitigation or in providing climate finance to developing countries for energy transition, mitigation and adaptation.
United States Withdrawal from the Bedrock Global Treaty
President Trump’s withdrawal of the United States from the bedrock global treaty to tackle climate change is a new low and yet another a sign that this authoritarian, anti-science administration is determined to sacrifice people’s well-being and destabilize global cooperation.
A UN spokesperson said they have seen the full list of organisations from which the Trump administration is withdrawing the US and will provide a comment on Thursday.
The US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said on X the US will no longer fund or participate in international organisations that do not serve, or in many cases work counter to, American interests.”
Trump Administration Labels 66 Institutions Wasteful, Mismanaged, and a Threat to U.S. Interests
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the Trump Administration has found the 66 institutions to be “redundant in their scope, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful, poorly run, captured by the interests of actors advancing their own agendas contrary to our own, or a threat to our nation’s sovereignty, freedoms, and general prosperity.”
“President Trump is clear: It is no longer acceptable to be sending these institutions the blood, sweat, and treasure of the American people, with little to nothing to show for it. The days of billions of dollars in taxpayer money flowing to foreign interests at the expense of our people are over,” Rubio said.
U.S. Exit From UN Climate Pact Risks Economic and Global Leadership Loss
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 U.S. 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, said David Widawsky, Director, World Resources Institute, US.
“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,” it added.
Top 10 CO2 Emitters
As of 2022 the latest data available , China ranked as the world’s largest CO2 emitter, followed by the United States, India, Russia and Japan. However, among the top 10 CO2 emitters, the United States has the highest emission per person. Per capita emissions in the U.S. are double those of China and 8 times those of India, according to WRI.
While the country has already submitted its letter of intent to leave the landmark Paris climate agreement for a second time, U.S. withdrawal from the UNFCCC has never happened before.
Every nation in the world is party to the UNFCCC, which was adopted more than three decades ago and has been upheld by Democratic and Republican administrations in the United States alike.
This harmful move comes in the context of multiple actions the administration has taken, including an illegal invasion of Venezuela, to upend global agreements and flout international law, the UCS said.
