CEI commends President Trump for withdrawing US from 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

President Trump announced this evening that the United States is withdrawing from many international agreements, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, signed in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Director of CEI’s Center for Energy and Environment Daren Bakst said:

“Affordable and reliable energy is vital to growth and prosperity, as is removing harmful governmental policies that increase energy poverty. Unfortunately, misguided global climate policies, launched with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992, make our most important and abundant sources of energy more expensive. They also fail to properly account for the harm associated with reducing economic prosperity and human flourishing. CEI and many of our allies have been making these arguments since before the agreement was signed in Rio.

“The consequences of these harmful climate policies have only been getting worse. In recent years, efforts to eliminate the use of fossil fuels – our most affordable and reliable energy sources – have been gaining traction at the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC. This is just a sample of how extreme things have become.

“President Trump should be commended for getting the U.S. out of the UNFCCC and rejecting this extremism. His action is a clear signal that our country won’t be part of global efforts to tell people how to live their lives and how to produce and use energy. Freedom is paramount and necessary to allow individuals to improve their lives and fulfill their dreams.”