Donald Trump has sparked outrage by announcing the US will exit the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), along with 65 other international organisations, in a presidential memorandum issued on Wednesday. The move cements the US’s isolation from global efforts to address the climate crisis, which the president has routinely ridiculed as a “scam” and a “hoax”.
The UNFCCC treaty, ratified by the US Senate in 1992 and agreed to by every country in the world, forms the bedrock of international cooperation on climate change. Simon Stiell, the UN’s climate chief, described the withdrawal as a “colossal own goal”, warning it will harm the US economy, jobs and living standards as extreme weather worsens. Gina McCarthy, former climate adviser to Joe Biden, called it “shortsighted, embarrassing and foolish”.
The White House memo also confirms the US will pull out of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the International Renewable Energy Association, the International Solar Alliance, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, among others. Marco Rubio, US secretary of state, defended the move, saying the agreements were “often dominated by progressive ideology and detached from national interests”.
Experts warn that the decision cedes global leadership to China in the clean energy transition and could shut the US out of climate diplomacy permanently. Jean Su of the Center for Biological Diversity noted that because the UNFCCC was Senate-ratified, Trump’s unilateral withdrawal may be legally challenged.
