Statement on Trump’s Withdrawal from International Climate Agreements

WASHINGTON – Late yesterday, Donald Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum to withdraw the United States from and end funding for 66 international organizations, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the foundational international treaty established to combat the climate crisis. 

In response, Karen Orenstein, Director of Climate, Energy, and Oceans Programs at Friends of the Earth U.S., issued the following statement: 

“Donald Trump and his regime are anti-science and anti-human rights. As they take a machete to international laws and norms, Trump’s withdrawal from dozens of conventions, treaties, and organizations should surprise no one.  

The people of the U.S. are resisting Trump’s brutal hegemony. As we do so, other governments – backed by people power – should use the U.S. absence from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the International Panel on Climate Change, and other fora to advance humane, rights-centered, and ecologically-sound agendas that the U.S. has historically obstructed.”  

Communications contact: Lindsay Tice, [email protected]
Expert contact: Karen Orenstein, [email protected]