UN climate spending is less than under Obama, but still significant

The words "climate change" or "global warming" didn't appear in President Donald Trump's federal budget proposals for fiscal years 2019-21. In Trump's proposal for fiscal year 2018, the administration said it would stop United Nations payments for climate change programs.

But it's Congress that determines the final budget every year, and its budget bills have continued contributions to international climate mitigation efforts, though not as much as when President Barack Obama was in office.

For fiscal year 2020, Congress allotted $6.4 million for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, according to the World Resources Institute. By comparison, the U.S. provided $10 million annually for the panel and treaty before fiscal year 2016. Congress' budget bill also stopped contributions to the Green Climate Fund, which the U.N. FCCC launched in 2010 to financially support climate mitigation efforts in developing countries.

Michigan Technological University chemistry professor Sarah Green, former co-chair of a U.N. environmental report science advisory panel, said in an email that there is no enforcement mechanism for countries honoring pledges to UN climate change efforts.

"U.N. agencies are used to countries suddenly discovering other priorities after announcing support," Green said. "The only real mechanism is shaming on the international stage."

For example, Obama pledged $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund, but the U.S. only delivered $1 billion.

In 2017, Trump announced his plans to remove the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, a treaty aimed at keeping a global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The treaty has support from nearly 200 countries. 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. was beginning the withdrawal process on Nov. 4, 2019, the first day a country was allowed to start the process and three years after the treaty went into effect. However, it takes another year for the formal withdrawal to take place, which would be the day after the 2020 election.

The Trump administration continues to push for cuts to U.N. climate mitigation efforts. Congress has allocated less funding than the U.S. contributed under Obama, but contributions continue to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

We rate this promise Compromise.