{"id":71031,"date":"2026-01-19T02:46:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T02:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/energytracker.asia\/?p=71031"},"modified":"2026-01-19T02:46:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T02:46:37","slug":"after-seizing-venezuela-oil-trump-quits-66-international-organisations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/energytracker.asia\/after-seizing-venezuela-oil-trump-quits-66-international-organisations\/","title":{"rendered":"After Seizing Venezuela Oil, Trump Quits 66 International Organisations: The Impacts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On the first anniversary of one of the biggest wildfires in US history, which scientists found was made more likely by climate change, US President Donald Trump made the unprecedented move to withdraw from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The decision now makes the US the only country in the world withdraw from the international treaty for negotiating an agreement to limit dangerous climate change and combat human interference with the climate system. Trump\u2019s move is the latest step in an organised assault against climate action, following the military campaign against Venezuela to oust its leader and ensure millions of barrels of oil supplies to the US, which would further increase the emissions intensity of the world\u2019s biggest historical polluter.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump Quits the UNFCCC, the IPCC and 64 Other International Treaties and Organisations Tackling Pressing Climate and Environmental Issues<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With a presidential memorandum from Jan. 7, the US administration announced<\/a> it will withdraw from the UNFCCC, the foundational international agreement to address the climate crisis. The move cements the US, the biggest historical emitter, as the most isolated country in the global effort to confront the climate crisis. The UNFCCC, the key body for addressing the climate crisis, was launched 34 years ago and has been agreed to by every country in the world, with the US participating since the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Michael Glennon, professor of constitutional and international law at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, chances that the US courts will overturn Trump\u2019s actions were \u201cvirtually nil\u201d. Reports<\/a> indicate that the withdrawal would take a year to take effect, and experts remain divided on whether the US could rejoin the UNFCCC under a future president without another Senate vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides the UNFCCC, the US is withdrawing from 65 other organisations, agencies and commissions. Among them is the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world\u2019s most trusted source of climate science. However, the US Academic Alliance for the IPCC issued a statement<\/a> noting that, \u201cwith the support of the USAA-IPCC, more than 70 US citizens and US-based experts who are currently serving the IPCC as coordinating lead authors, lead authors, review editors and committee members will continue to play these roles,<\/em>\u201d meaning Trump\u2019s decision will have little impact on their work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US Treasury also announced<\/a> the immediate withdrawal of the US from the Green Climate Fund. According to Joe Thwaites, international climate finance director of Natural Resources Defense Council, while this has long been known, it won\u2019t have a new impact on funding levels. However, the US would essentially give up any say over the allocation of already paid-in US funding, which the expert describes as \u201ca dereliction of the administration’s responsibility to American taxpayers”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the 66 treaties, organisations and international bodies that the US will now leave are also the International Renewable Energy Association (IRENA), the International Solar Alliance, the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The State Department even announced that additional reviews are ongoing, indicating that it can withdraw from other treaties and organisations dedicated to preserving the climate and the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, in one of the first moves of his second term, Trump quit the Paris Agreement<\/a>. Toward the end of 2025, the US refused to send a delegation to UN climate talks in Brazil, while the Trump administration also hired marginalised experts to write a report promoting misinformation<\/a> about climate change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientists<\/a> were quick to criticise Trump\u2019s administration\u2019s \u201cshameless lies about the scientific realities of climate change\u201d, branding them \u201cdeeply harmful to the interests of people in the United States\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo be the first major economy to abandon this effort would set American families and businesses back in the global energy transition \u2014 leaving them to breathe dirtier air, face worse health outcomes, pay higher energy bills and miss out on the economic gains that come with leading the shift to a clean energy future,\u201d <\/strong>said<\/a> Amanda Leland, executive director of the Environmental Defense Fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Contrary to the Interests of the United States’<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The US administration didn\u2019t hide the reason for withdrawing from the treaties and agencies tackling the climate crisis, stating that their missions contradicted<\/a> the interests of the United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office, he has made it clear that the US\u2019 interests align with those of the fossil fuel lobby instead of climate science. Under Trump’s leadership, the US, which has emitted a total of 542 billion tonnes of CO2<\/a> since 1850, by burning fossil fuels, cutting down trees and other activities, is now planning to scale up fossil fuel exploration and use, with Trump branding<\/a> coal \u201cbeautiful\u201d, \u201ccheap\u201d and \u201cincredibly efficient\u201d. Furthermore, he has continuously pressured<\/a> other countries to abandon their carbon-cutting measures.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"US<\/a>
Source: Carbon Brief<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In one of his recent moves, the US president launched a military campaign against Venezuela, overthrowing its leader, Nicolas Maduro. Estimates by the US Energy Information Administration<\/a> reveal that the South American country, a founding member of OPEC, holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves at 303 billion barrels, or 17% of the global total. Following the move, Trump announced that US oil companies are about to invest \u201cbillions of dollars<\/a>\u201d to tap into Venezuela\u2019s oil reserves. Furthermore, the White House announced plans to control Venezuela\u2019s oil reserves \u201cindefinitely<\/a>\u201d. However, Exxon Mobil\u2019s leadership declared the country \u201cuninvestable<\/a>\u201d, insisting on looking at projects that are better aligned with a long-term horizon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe actions of this past week alone \u2014 from seizing the Venezuelan president to withdrawing from the UNFCCC \u2014 show that this administration has a callous disdain for world peace and climate justice,\u201d said Niranjali Amerasinghe, executive director of ActionAid USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump Serving Big Oil<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s leadership is now likely not only to continue but also to significantly expand its bullish fossil fuel exploration plans, further distancing the US from global climate goals and fueling the climate crisis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Trump\u2019s actions were a byproduct of \u201ccreepy polluters\u2019 control\u201d over his administration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frances Col\u00f3n, senior fellow for International Climate Policy at the Centre for American Progress, branded the move as a \u201ccorrupt bargain\u201d that would result in abandoning climate leadership while treating American lives and taxpayer dollars as expendable in the service of Big Oil. \u201cThis week, as the Trump administration withdraws from the foundational framework for global climate cooperation, Trump is meeting with the oil executives of the same companies that poured nearly [USD] 100 million into his reelection campaign to discuss profiting from Venezuela\u2019s oil,\u201d the expert notes. \u201cThis is not a coincidence. This is policy by and for fossil fuel interests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Trump Prioritises the Oil Industry’s Interests and Denies Science, Climate Disasters Grow More Severe in the US<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While Trump has made his opinion about climate change clear on several occasions, branding it \u201cthe greatest con job ever<\/a>\u201d, \u201can expensive hoax<\/a>\u201d and \u201cone of the greatest scams of all time<\/a>\u201d, the climate crisis has been intensifying and wreaking havoc all across the US. On Jan. 7, 2025, a year before Trump announced the US\u2019 withdrawal from key climate treaties, record wildfires took the lives of over 440<\/a> people and burned more than 50,000 acres (202.3 square km), destroying nearly 16,000 homes and businesses. Scientists from the World Weather Attribution group found that climate change increased the likelihood<\/a> of the disaster by 35%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gina McCarthy, the chair of the America is All In coalition and the first White House national climate advisor and 13th US EPA administrator, described Trump\u2019s decision to quit the UNFCCC as \u201cshortsighted, embarrassing and foolish,\u201d noting that it would result in \u201c<\/em>throwing away decades of US climate change leadership and global collaboration\u201d.<\/em> McCarthy added, \u201cThis Administration is forfeiting our country’s ability to influence trillions of dollars in investments, policies, and decisions that would have advanced our economy and protected us from costly disasters wreaking havoc on our country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to research by Climate Central<\/a>, climate change has made extreme weather disasters over the past four decades in the US far more savage. For example, the cost of all disasters between 1985 and 1995 was USD 299 billion, compared with USD 1.4 trillion in losses over the past decade. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Natural<\/a>
Source: Climate Central<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/a>In total, researchers estimate that 2025 ranks as the third-highest year<\/a> after 2023 and 2024 for billion-dollar weather and climate disasters, with 23 such events totalling USD 115 billion in damages. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Natural
Source: Climate Central<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Furthermore, scientists found that weather extremes are now becoming way more frequent.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Less
Source: Climate Central<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Globally, the loss of human lives, as well as damage to infrastructure and ecosystems, will continue escalating as the climate crisis worsens. Projections reveal that, even if current emissions-reduction pledges are implemented, the world would warm by 2.6\u00b0C by 2100, making many regions more hostile and leading to dangerous levels of heat. This would include adding 57 extra hot days per year compared to now, scientists warn<\/a>. Climatologists also note that the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement<\/a>, which takes effect later this month, would add another 0.1\u00b0C to this range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it doesn\u2019t take waiting until the end of the century to understand the magnitude of the challenge. Scientists warn that the climate crisis is already claiming a life every single minute<\/a>. And with the US\u2019 continued push to derail global efforts to tame it, the challenge is becoming even more significant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate Action Continues Amid the US-shaped Hole <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to scientists<\/a>, the US\u2019 withdrawal from the global climate convention will only serve to further isolate it and diminish its standing in the world, jeopardising ties with some of its closest historical allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon Stiell, the UN\u2019s climate chief and executive secretary of the UNFCCC, described<\/a> the move as a \u201ccolossal own goal\u201d. \u201cWhile all other nations are stepping forward together, this latest step back from global leadership, climate cooperation and science can only harm the US economy, jobs and living standards, as wildfires, floods, mega-storms and droughts get rapidly worse,\u201d he warned<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Trump remains fixated on the past, the United States\u2019 main rival on the world stage, China, has come to dominate the clean energy technologies of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChina is leading the world in providing this affordable, reliable energy through its abundance of clean energy technologies. Meanwhile, the US will have trouble selling its fossil fuels when other countries are presented with cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable options for energy security,” says Kate Logan, director of China Climate Hub and Climate Diplomacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US\u2019 most powerful allies, including Australia, Britain and the European Union, are also advancing their ambitions to reduce the emissions from planet-heating greenhouse gases and ramp up renewable energy, unlocking trillions of dollars in economic opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFortunately, 198 minus one does not equal zero,\u201d said<\/a> former US Vice President Al Gore in a statement after Trump\u2019s announcement. \u201cWhile the US federal government sits on the sidelines, world leaders, local and state governments, and the private sector will continue to move forward with the clean energy transition and uphold the goals set forth in the Paris Agreement because it is in their best interest to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the US steps back, the rest of the world will remain committed to climate change adaptation and mitigation. They will just have to do more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe heard loud and clear at COP 30 in Brazil that the world is moving forward with decisive action that will allow them to seize the economic opportunities of a low-carbon future, with or without the US,\u201d said<\/a> Max Frankel, executive director of SEEC Institute. \u201cToday\u2019s action only makes it more likely that we will be left behind.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scientists, market experts public and private stakeholders argue that Trump’s latest moves won’t erase climate science. While they will definitely derail the global efforts to tame the climate crisis, the biggest damage would be done to the US, its economy, global stature and relationship with allies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":71142,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,347],"tags":[716,310,397,125],"hashtags":[],"class_list":["post-71031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-fossil-fuel","tag-donald-trump","tag-energy-transition","tag-fossil-fuels","tag-usa"],"acf":{"custom_author_name":"","article_pdf_file":{"ID":71084,"id":71084,"title":"After the Paris Agreement, Trump Quits the UNFCCC and the IPCC_ The Impacts","filename":"After-the-Paris-Agreement-Trump-Quits-the-UNFCCC-and-the-IPCC_-The-Impacts.pdf","filesize":395421,"url":"https:\/\/energytracker.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/After-the-Paris-Agreement-Trump-Quits-the-UNFCCC-and-the-IPCC_-The-Impacts.pdf","link":"https:\/\/energytracker.asia\/after-seizing-venezuela-oil-trump-quits-66-international-organisations\/after-the-paris-agreement-trump-quits-the-unfccc-and-the-ipcc_-the-impacts\/","alt":"","author":"14","description":"","caption":"After the Paris Agreement, Trump Quits the UNFCCC and the IPCC_ The Impacts","name":"after-the-paris-agreement-trump-quits-the-unfccc-and-the-ipcc_-the-impacts","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":71031,"date":"2026-01-11 14:07:30","modified":"2026-01-11 14:07:41","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"application\/pdf","type":"application","subtype":"pdf","icon":"https:\/\/energytracker.asia\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/document.png"},"poll_vote":0,"manage_the_date":"global","show_in_lastest_from_the_region":"0","order":"","short_desc":"Scientists, market experts public and private stakeholders argue that Trump's latest moves won't erase climate science. While they will definitely derail the global efforts to tame the climate crisis, the biggest damage would be done on the US, its economy, global stature and relationship with allies, and population well-being. "},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/energytracker.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/energytracker.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/energytracker.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energytracker.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energytracker.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71031"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/energytracker.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71141,"href":"https:\/\/energytracker.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71031\/revisions\/71141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energytracker.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/energytracker.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energytracker.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energytracker.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71031"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energytracker.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=71031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}