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In an unprecedented rollback of US engagement with multilateral institutions, President Donald Trump ordered the United States (US) to withdraw from 66 international organisations and treaties, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)—the world’s central pillars for global climate action and climate science.
The decision was formalised through a presidential memorandum signed on November 7, 2025, covering 35 non-UN bodies and 31 United Nations entities. The White House, in an official statement, said the organisations “no longer serve American interests” and advance agendas that are “ineffective or hostile”.
The move makes the US the first country ever to exit the UNFCCC, a Senate-ratified treaty adopted in 1992 that underpins the entire architecture of international climate governance, including the annual Conference of Parties (COP) negotiations and the Paris Agreement.
This is Trump’s second major climate withdrawal since beginning his second term. In 2025, the administration pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement for a second time and declined to send a delegation to COP30 in Brazil—steps that already signalled Washington’s retreat from global climate diplomacy.
On February 4, 2025, Trump issued an executive order directing the administration to review which international treaties and organisations were “contrary” to US interests. The exits from the UNFCCC and IPCC follow that review.
Alongside the climate bodies, the US has also withdrawn from organisations including the International Solar Alliance, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the UN Population Fund, UN Energy, and the UN programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+).
While exiting the Paris Agreement removed the US from global emissions targets, withdrawing from the UNFCCC goes much further—cutting the country out of the core system that governs emissions reporting, transparency rules, climate finance negotiations and carbon markets.
Legally, the UNFCCC allows countries to withdraw after three years of membership, with the exit taking effect one year after formal notice. Crucially, the convention specifies that withdrawal from the UNFCCC automatically counts as withdrawal from any protocols under it, including the Paris Agreement.
In practice, this means the US will no longer negotiate as a Party at COPs, will fall outside the emissions reporting and review system, and will lose its ability to shape global climate rules from within—even if it continues to attend some meetings as an observer.
The exit comes despite the US being one of the world’s largest contributors to climate change. According to the Global Carbon Project, US territorial CO2 emissions in 2024 were around 4.9 billion tonnes—about 12.7 per cent of global emissions. Per capita emissions stood at roughly 14.6 tonnes, far above the global average.
Historically, the US remains the single largest cumulative emitter of CO2 from fossil fuels and industry, accounting for about 24 per cent of total emissions. The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that total greenhouse gas emissions in 2022 were 6.3 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent, with transport now the largest source.
The withdrawal is expected to have significant implications for climate finance. Under the UNFCCC, climate funding mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund and the Global Environment Facility operate under COP oversight. As a non-Party, the US will lose leverage over how this financial architecture evolves—while also finding it politically easier to justify withholding contributions.
For developing countries, including India, this could make climate finance more uncertain. At COP29 in Azerbaijan in 2024, governments agreed to a new collective goal of at least $300 billion a year by 2035. Many countries now question how such targets can be met when a major historical emitter is stepping away.
“The US exiting the world’s core climate action bodies makes it harder to make credible deals to reach climate finance numbers,” one senior climate negotiator said, “because other countries will ask why they should pay more when the biggest historical polluter is opting out.”
The pullout from the IPCC further isolates the US from global climate decision-making. The IPCC produces the authoritative scientific assessments that underpin climate policy worldwide.
“By pulling the United States out of the IPCC, President Trump is deliberately cutting our nation’s formal participation off from the world’s most trusted source of climate science,” said Delta Merner, associate accountability campaign director at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). “Walking away doesn’t make science disappear—it only leaves policymakers, businesses and communities flying in the dark.”
US scientists may still contribute as individual researchers or reviewers, but without government participation, the country will lose influence over the direction, scope and coordination of global climate assessments.
Climate experts and civil society groups reacted sharply to the announcement.
“President Trump’s withdrawal of the US from the bedrock global treaty to tackle climate change is a new low,” said Rachel Cleetus, policy director and lead economist at UCS. “This authoritarian, anti-science administration is determined to sacrifice people’s well-being and destabilise global cooperation.”
Cleetus warned that the move would further erode US credibility. “Withdrawal from the global climate convention will only serve to further isolate the United States and diminish its standing in the world, jeopardising ties with close allies and making the world far more unsafe,” she said.
The announcement comes as climate indicators continue to worsen. The year 2024 was the hottest on record globally, and 2025 is expected to rank among the top three. According to UNEP’s 2025 Emissions Gap Report, the world is currently on track for 2.3-2.8°C of warming this century—far above the Paris Agreement goals. The US exit from Paris alone is expected to add around 0.1°C to global warming.
For poorer and climate-vulnerable countries, analysts warn the immediate risks are slower global mitigation, weaker accountability, and reduced, less predictable support for adaptation and loss and damage—just as climate impacts intensify and funding needs rise sharply.