(San Francisco, January 8, 2025) — The Trump administration’s announcement that it is withdrawing from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlights the administration’s disregard of the existential risks facing the people of the United States and around the world, Climate Rights International said today.

The UNFCCC and the IPCC are among the 66 international agreements and bodies from which the U.S. announced its withdrawal this week. The UNFCCC is the main global treaty coordinating global action to combat climate change and the IPCC is the scientific body tasked with assessing the science of climate change. Its work, to which American scientists have been major contributors, forms the scientific backbone for international climate negotiations and policy development. The U.S. announced its withdrawal from the landmark Paris Agreement just after Trump was inaugurated in January 2025.

“At a time when the world is facing record warming and the United States is facing billions of dollars of costs every year due to climate-fueled disasters, the Trump administration is stepping away from the fight to mitigate those harms,” said Brad Adams, Executive Director at Climate Rights International. “Denying the problem, turning its back on science, and abdicating its responsibility as the world’s largest per capita emitter will not make the dangers of climate disappear. It’s time for members of Congress, particularly Republicans who know better, to demand action to protect the U.S. from the increasing impact of rising heat, rising sea levels, and the increased frequency and intensity of storms resulting from the unchecked exploitation of fossil fuels.”

With this decision, the United States will become the only country on Earth not party to the UNFCCC. The U.S. is also withdrawing from a range of other international bodies related to the environment, energy policy, and climate, including:

• the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN);
• the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century;
• the International Renewable Energy Agency;
• the International Tropical Timber Organization;
• the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services;
• the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals, and Sustainable Development;
• the Commission for Environmental Cooperation; and
• the 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact.

Trump’s action follows his evisceration of renewable energy initiatives in the U.S., his promotion of the use of coal, oil and gas—the very materials fueling the climate crisis—and his efforts to censor climate science, said Climate Rights International.  The administration has largely dismantled or undermined the U.S. agencies that study climate and weather, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service, and deleted scientific information about climate change from government websites.

The U.S. withdrawal from the UNFCCC does not eliminate its responsibility under international law, as one of the largest historic emitters of greenhouse gases, to address the harms caused. In 2025, the International Court of Justice, in a landmark advisory opinion, made explicit that states that knowingly pursue policies driving climate destruction are in breach of their legal obligations, including under international human rights law, climate law, customary international law, and the prohibition on transboundary harm.

“The U.S. is turning its back on the fact that the world is burning, but looking away will not douse the flames,” said Adams. “The Trump administration’s wholesale disengagement from international cooperation on climate, energy policy, and environmental issues is an own goal that will reduce America’s influence and reputation in the world. It is critical that state and local governments in the U.S. and the rest of the world stand firm to ensure that Trump’s latest move is not allowed to weaken the global system at precisely the moment when coordinated action to fight climate change and protect human rights is most urgently needed.”