Trump Calls Climate Change ‘Greatest Con Job’ in Fiery UN Address

President Donald Trump dismissed climate change as “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world” during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, intensifying his opposition to global climate action.

In his remarks, Trump criticized the European Union for pursuing emissions reductions, claiming it had weakened its economy, and warned countries investing in renewable energy that they risked financial decline. “All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong,” he told delegates, adding they were made by “stupid people” who cost their countries “fortunes.”

Trump’s comments starkly contrasted with the scientific consensus that climate change is real, human-driven, and worsening, with rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and melting ice as clear indicators. His administration has doubled down on an “energy dominance” agenda prioritizing oil, gas, coal, and nuclear energy while sidelining renewables, even as clean energy has become cost-competitive.

The U.S. has already submitted its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement for the second time, leaving it alongside Yemen, Iran, and Libya outside the pact. Trump’s remarks came just a day before U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres convenes a climate summit urging stronger global action, highlighting the stark divide between U.S. policy and international momentum toward clean energy.

The UN General Assembly framing combined with formal Paris Agreement withdrawal submission places the US alongside Yemen, Iran and Libya as jurisdictions outside the primary international climate framework. For US-headquartered multinationals, this creates the substantial regulatory-versus-market divergence that shapes strategic planning.

The practical planning reality is complexity. Federal-level climate rollback does not eliminate state-level regulation (California SB 253/261, New York, Washington), EU CSRD extraterritorial reach, ISSB adoption pressure from institutional investors, corporate-customer Scope 3 requirements or physical climate risk exposure. Companies that treat federal rollback as licence to dismantle sustainability infrastructure typically face costly rebuilds when regulatory or market conditions shift.

For US-headquartered corporates, financial institutions with US portfolio exposure and their sustainability advisors, Cognitud's ESG strategy and transformation, market intelligence and climate action teams help clients evaluate exposure under evolving federal-versus-state-versus-international divergence, structure sustainability strategies robust across regulatory scenarios, and prepare disclosures aligned with SEC, California, EU CSRD, ISSB and jurisdictional climate frameworks.