U.S. pulls out of UN climate treaty, one of 66 international organizations losing support

The UN flag flies on a stormy day at the United Nations during the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

The United States’ decision to withdraw from the UN’s key climate treaty is a “colossal own goal” that will harm the U.S. economy, jobs and living standards, United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell said on Thursday.

“While all other nations are stepping forward together, this latest step back from global leadership, climate cooperation and science can only harm the U.S. economy, jobs and living standards, as wildfires, floods, mega-storms and droughts get rapidly worse,” Stiell said in a statement.

“It is a colossal own goal which will leave the U.S. less secure and less prosperous.”

• U.S. will exit dozens of international organizations as it further retreats from global co-operation

U.S. President Donald Trump, a vocal critic of renewable energy who has called climate change a “con job” and a hoax, went beyond his previous action of withdrawing the U.S. - world’s biggest historical greenhouse gas emitter - from the Paris climate agreement by removing the country from the underlying UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The UNFCCC requires wealthy industrialized countries to take measures to cut their emissions, adopt policies to limit greenhouse gas emissions, publicly report their emissions, and provide funding to help poorer nations address climate change.

The US also withdrew from the key UN scientific body on climate change called the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. U.S. scientists played a key role in the IPCC’s assessments.

The move drew criticism from European officials as well as environmental groups.

(Reporting by William James and Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Franklin Paul)