Donald Trump has sparked outrage by announcing the United States will exit the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) along with 65 other international organisations, agencies and commissions. A presidential memorandum issued on Wednesday described these bodies as “contrary to the interests of the United States”.
The UNFCCC, ratified by the US Senate in 1992, is the foundational international agreement for addressing the climate crisis and has been signed by every country in the world. Simon Stiell, the UN’s climate chief, called the move a “colossal own goal” that will leave the US less secure and less prosperous as extreme weather events worsen.
Environmental leaders condemned the decision. Gina McCarthy, former White House climate adviser, described it as “shortsighted, embarrassing and foolish”. Manish Bapna of the Natural Resources Defense Council said the withdrawal cedes trillions of dollars in clean energy investment to competitors like China. The US also pulled out of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the International Renewable Energy Association, and other environmental groups.
The legality of unilaterally exiting a Senate-ratified treaty is unclear. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, defended the move, saying the agreements were “often dominated by progressive ideology and detached from national interests”. Critics warned that allowing this withdrawal to stand could permanently shut the US out of global climate diplomacy.
