The EU’s climate chief says the bloc will continue global climate cooperation despite the US exiting the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
PARIS: The European Union’s climate chief has labelled the US withdrawal from a key UN climate treaty as “regrettable and unfortunate”.
Wopke Hoekstra said the bloc would continue to support international climate research and cooperation.
President Donald Trump announced the US exit from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on Wednesday.
The 1992 treaty is the foundational global pact for nations to cooperate on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Hoekstra stated the UNFCCC “underpins global climate action” in a post on LinkedIn.
He lamented the decision by the world’s largest economy and second-largest emitter to retreat from it.
EU vice-president for the clean transition, Teresa Ribera, accused the Trump administration of not caring about the environment or public health.
“Peace, justice, cooperation or prosperity are not among its priorities,” she wrote on Bluesky.
Trump has openly scorned the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change, calling it a “hoax”.
His administration sent no representative to the most recent UN climate summit in Brazil in November.
Trump previously withdrew the US from the Paris climate accord, a move reversed by his successor Joe Biden.
Exiting the underlying UNFCCC treaty could create legal uncertainty around any future US effort to rejoin.
