It landed as one fell swoop after a year of relentless cuts to U.S. climate programs, personnel and policy.
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he would withdraw the United States from more than 60 international organizations and treaties, including the framework agreement for addressing climate change that a Republican administration helped to craft 33 years ago.
The moves, which face certain legal challenges and will take at least a year to execute in any case, go far beyond the nation’s exit from the Paris Agreement, which Trump announced at the start of his second term. They would mean that the U.S., the largest historic contributor to the world’s greenhouse gas overload, would be the only nation with no role in international negotiations to reduce pollution or aid poor nations that are bearing the brunt of climate impacts. The action invites a legal reckoning over Constitutional questions, such as whether a president can unilaterally abandon a treaty that has been Senate-ratified, as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was.
Trump is even seeking to remove the United States from the process of assessing climate science, although it is not clear that he has any power to block the 50 U.S. scientists from non-governmental institutions who are currently serving on the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In effect, the clearest impact of an exit from the IPCC would be giving up any leverage the United States has over the shape of the key findings of the panel, known as the Summary for Policymakers.
Climate action advocates pledged that state and local governments across the United States will remain committed to reducing greenhouse gas pollution. But the Trump administration also is engaged in a legal strategy to stop that from happening, this week filing suit against two California cities that have adopted ordinances to restrict natural gas infrastructure and appliances in new construction.
More of our coverage of the biggest story on the planet:
- As President Trump met with U.S. oil executives on Friday, Exxon CEO Darren Woods called Venezuela “uninvestable” at present and others expressed caution in response to the president’s overtures to pour billions of dollars into the country.
- The latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans, like previous editions, ignores the climate impacts of livestock and could make them worse, environmental groups worry.
- The EPA budget for 2026 rejects extreme cuts proposed by Republican representatives and the Trump administration. But advocates warn that significant cuts still jeopardize the agency’s ability to protect Americans’ health.
Outcry Builds Over Trump’s Withdrawal From International, Climate Treaties
BY MARIANNE LAVELLE
Environmental advocates have blasted the administration’s unprecedented retreat as unwise—and possibly illegal.As Trump Eyes Greenland, What Could That Mean for Island’s Mineral Wealth and Environment?
BY NICHOLAS KUSNETZ
The Danish territory holds significant stores of oil, gas and minerals. But regulations and the extreme environment have kept the vast majority in the ground.Oil Industry Will Eye Venezuela Warily, Experts Say
BY MARIANNE LAVELLE, GEORGINA GUSTIN
Given Venezuela’s murky political future, few analysts expect a rush to invest the billions needed to pump more oil from the world’s largest reserves.In Ecuador’s Battle of Toad vs. Road, Toad Wins
BY KATIE SURMA
A court invoked Ecuador’s rights of nature laws in halting a highway project to protect the Jambato harlequin toad, requiring the government to prove construction won’t drive the species to extinction.Ten Million Corals Are in the Path of a Federal Dredging Project in Florida
BY TERESA TOMASSONI
Scientists warn that a proposed expansion of Port Everglades could cause unprecedented damage to corals in the U.S., including some of the only remaining endangered staghorn corals that survived a record-breaking heat wave.Burning Plastic Waste for Household Fuel Endangers Millions
BY LIZA GROSS
People in low-income urban communities in the Global South without access to reliable energy sources are burning the toxic plastic waste inundating their communities to cook and heat their homes.Ocean Warming Breaks Record for Ninth Straight Year
BY JOHNNY STURGEON
Scientists warn the ocean’s accumulation of energy is fueling extreme weather patterns and destabilizing marine ecosystems.To Save An Endangered Prairie Fish, Dried-up Iowa Wetlands Get New Life
BY ANIKA JANE BEAMER
Efforts to save the Topeka shiner have restored hundreds of oxbow lakes across Iowa. Now, those wetlands are helping to improve the state’s water quality.More Children Are Powering Their Own Wheels to School as Part of ‘Bike Buses’
BY TINA DEINES
School kids who ride in packs led by adults to school improve both their health and their grades, reduce traffic and pollution around schools and help cut climate-warming emissions.How Trump Derailed a NOAA Pioneer’s Move From Climate Impacts to Solutions
BY MARIANNE LAVELLE
Libby Jewett founded the U.S. ocean acidification program and had begun work on offshore wind energy. But she joined the past year’s historic exodus from the agency, the impacts of which are still not clear.The Real Pain of Climate Change Is Easy to Feel, but Increasingly Difficult to Study
BY CHAD SMALL
Many chronic pain patients cite the weather as a driver of their suffering, and climate change is making the torment more likely and harder to deal with. But research on the relationship is uncertain, and federal cuts could hold it back.A Growing Movement Looks to Decarbonize Death
BY EMILY PAYNE
Alternative end-of-life practices like water cremation and human composting produce fewer emissions and return nutrients to the Earth, but access remains limited.
📈 Trending
Health Care Providers Are Dropping a Common Anesthesia Drug That’s Also a Climate Super Pollutant
BY PHIL McKENNA
Limiting use of desflurane helps hospitals reduce their greenhouse gas emissions; the European Union now prohibits its use during most procedures.
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