President Donald Trump dismissed green policies and the risks of climate change during his address to the United Nations, describing the concept of a carbon footprint as a “hoax.”
During his first in-person appearance at the U.N. General Assembly since 2019, Trump criticized initiatives to mitigate the effects of climate change, saying countries that prioritize climate-related policies will fail and go bankrupt.
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“All green is all bankrupt,” Trump said Tuesday in New York City, later calling climate change the “greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.”
Trump said he is worried about Europe being devastated by energy failures and excess immigration, as many member states of the European Union have continued to phase out fossil fuels and accelerate the implementation of renewable energy alternatives.
“[Europe] must take control strongly and immediately of the unmitigated immigration disaster and the fake energy catastrophe before it’s too late,” he said. “The carbon footprint is a hoax made up by people with evil intentions, and they’re headed down a path of total destruction.”
A carbon footprint is typically calculated as the total greenhouse gas emissions caused directly or indirectly by individuals, organizations, events, nations, or even products.
There is a broad consensus among scientists that lowering carbon footprints through actions such as reducing carbon emissions will improve human health, lessen economic risks, and slow climate change.
Nations that signed the 2016 Paris Agreement have agreed to lower their carbon footprints to limit global warming to well below 2°C above preindustrial levels. Members of the U.N. are expected to present their 2035 targets for lowering greenhouse gas emissions during the general assembly this week.
However, the EU will not submit new targets, as environment ministers failed to agree on them last week. Instead, the bloc’s officials will offer a statement of intent on reducing emissions by between 66.25% and 72.5% by 2035.
During his remarks, Trump lambasted Europe’s efforts to lower the bloc’s carbon footprint, describing it as a “con job” and saying these policies have resulted in factory closures and mass job losses. He said any progress made on reducing a global carbon footprint has been wiped out by increased emissions from countries like China.
“The primary effect of these brutal green energy policies has not been to help the environment, but to redistribute manufacturing and industrial activity from developed countries that follow the insane rules that are put down to polluting countries that break the rules and are making a fortune,” Trump continued.
Trump has long dismissed concerns about climate change and global efforts to lower greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.
On his first day in office, Trump again pulled the United States from the 2016 Paris Agreement. His administration has since taken numerous steps to downplay climate change, including moving to reverse the 2009 Endangerment Finding, undoing regulations limiting carbon and toxic emissions, and purging climate change information from dozens of government websites.
The Trump administration is now urging European allies to take similar actions and redirect resources and federal support to the fossil fuel and nuclear industries.
In the weeks leading up to the U.N. General Assembly, Cabinet members such as Energy Secretary Chris Wright specifically called on the EU to lift or soften methane emissions regulations that oil and gas companies say would hurt their ability to export to the region.
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While Trump did not point to any specific policy, he escalated the pressure on Tuesday.
“If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail,” he said.