Blow to climate action

Washington: President Donald Trump has extended the US retreat from global cooperation on climate action by signalling a withdrawal from flagship international organizations, including the main United Nations and scientific bodies focused on the issue.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change are among a total of 66 groups the US will exit, spanning multiple sectors. The climate moves are seen as likely to diminish the US role in addressing greenhouse gas emissions and significantly limit the global influence of those entities.

Trump’s actions are in line with his domestic policy changes aimed at removing curbs on pollution and fossil fuels and follow a decision in January 2025 to begin a year-long process to quit the Paris Agreement, the binding 2015 accord to combat global warming. He made a similar decision during his first term in office. The move is a “gift to China and a get out of jail free card to countries and polluters who want to avoid responsibility,” said John Kerry, a former US secretary of state and special presidential envoy for climate during the Biden administration. “It’s another self-inflicted wound on the world stage.” Trump’s second term has delivered an acceleration of efforts to roll back action to tackle climate change, which he has labelled a “hoax” and “the greatest con job.” Funding programs or tax incentives from his predecessor Joe Biden’s era covering areas like clean energy and electric vehicles have been scrapped, renewables projects halted, research grants frozen.