Whitehouse Statement on Trump’s Withdrawal from UNFCCC

“This polluter-driven stoogery shows the full extent of creepy polluters’ control over the Trump Administration,” said the EPW Ranking Member after Trump withdrew from numerous international climate and environmental agreements and organizations

Washington, D.C.— Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, issued the following statement after the Trump Administration announced it is leaving the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), unilaterally withdrawing from a treaty that had been unanimously ratified by the Senate.  The UNFCCC established the world’s governance system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change.  The Trump Administration also withdrew from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), United Nations-Oceans, and numerous other international environmental agreements and organizations.

“This polluter-driven stoogery shows the full extent of creepy polluters’ control over the Trump Administration.  Trump’s corrupt fossil fuel interests threaten the well-being of millions around the world on the front lines of climate disaster, defy the will of the American people, and damage U.S. economic competitiveness.  Moreover, once the Senate has ratified a treaty, only the Senate can withdraw from the treaty; this announcement is not just corrupt, it’s illegal.

“The economic cascade—climate change disrupting weather, damaging insurance and mortgage markets, crashing property values and systemically damaging the entire economy—has already begun.  Denying scientific fact and forfeiting U.S. climate leadership to our economic competitors is folly; doing so for corrupt reasons is worse.  As climate change drives up insurance premiums, grocery prices, and energy costs, American families will pay the price for Trump’s fossil fuel corruption.”