US President Donald Trump and other world leaders attend a multilateral meeting during the 80th United Nations General Assembly, in New York City.
Credit: Reuters Photo
New Delhi: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday called climate change "the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world", a dismissal that experts say must not shake countries' resolve to fight the crisis, since action is overtaking political posturing in the real world.
Experts warned that Trump's speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) may complicate diplomacy in the run-up to the UN climate change conference in Belem, Brazil, but they insist that momentum lies in the policies countries adopt.
Trump's rhetoric, whether calling climate change a "hoax" or a "con job", is a "reckless assault on our shared future", said Harjeet Singh, climate activist and founding director of Satat Sampada Climate Foundation.
"This dangerous narrative has already set back global climate action, emboldened the fossil fuel industry and threatened to unravel decades of hard-won progress. We must demand accountability from the US as the largest historical polluter and push forward with ambitious climate solutions at COP30 and beyond. We are running out of time and cannot allow one man's opinion to derail the global climate action," he said.
Avantika Goswami, head of the climate change programme at the Centre for Science and Environment, said that as the second largest emitter and a petrostate controlling the dollar, the US regression on climate is harmful for global goals.
"But this should not weaken the resolve of other countries," she said, urging nations to use COP30 to reinforce commitments on scaling down fossil fuels and pursuing green industrial policy.
Shailendra Yashwant, senior advisor at Climate Action Network South Asia, said Trump's address "comes as no surprise as he has been desperately trying to prop up the dying oil and gas industry in the face of record-breaking renewable energy uptake across the world".
Citing a recent IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency) finding that solar is now 41 per cent cheaper than fossil fuels, he said, "The real world is moving faster than politics." Yashwant also emphasised that the real significance lies in how leaders show up at COP30, invoking Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's message that Belem "will be the time for world leaders to prove the seriousness of their commitment to the planet".
Sumit Prasad, programme lead at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, added that while such remarks from the US leadership are not new, many countries are pushing ahead with climate action.
He said that India has already crossed 50 per cent non-fossil power capacity ahead of schedule, expanded solar and wind energy deployment, and raised its ambition, which is proof that "climate leadership can come from the Global South through action, innovation and resilience".
He decried predictions from UN bodies and others as flawed or politicised, labelled the carbon footprint a hoax and defended fossil fuel dependency.
In recent months, the Trump administration has taken several steps that experts say weaken the global fight against climate change.
His administration has withdrawn the US from the Paris Agreement again, rolled back power plant pollution limits and vehicle emission standards and moved against offshore wind projects.
These actions have alarmed climate and public health experts, who warn they risk reversing emissions cuts and eroding US credibility in international climate diplomacy.