From our collaborating partner Living on Earth, public radio’s environmental news magazine, a conversation between producers Jenni Doering and Aynsley O’Neill about President Donald Trump’s speech to the U.N. General Assembly. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Some of the world’s most powerful people gathered in New York City in recent days for the annual opening session of the United Nations General Assembly, which coincides with Climate Week NYC, when business leaders and politicians take the stage to talk up green energy and sustainability. Climate is often at top of mind as these world leaders gather at the U.N., and there’s a fair amount of scrutiny on global climate action.
But in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, President Donald Trump railed against the very notion that the climate might be in trouble:
TRUMP: “It’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion. Climate change, no matter what happens, you’re involved in that. No more global warming, no more global cooling. All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong. They were made by stupid people that have cost their countries’ fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success. If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail.”
AYNSLEY O’NEILL: Those are some pretty harsh words on clean energy and climate action, even from President Trump, who’s been calling climate change a hoax for a decade or so. And just for the record, there is broad and overwhelming scientific consensus that the Earth has been heating up because of the massive amounts of greenhouse gases humanity has pumped into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution.
JENNI DOERING: I don’t need to tell you the evidence is overwhelming at this point. The last 10 years were the 10 hottest on record. And 2024 tops the list with a departure from the pre-industrial average of 1.5 degrees Celsius; that’s according to the World Meteorological Organization.
O’NEILL: Sadly, I don’t think these sobering numbers are really all that surprising.
DOERING: No, they shouldn’t be, since scientists with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, have been studying this for decades, and their predictions have actually been pretty darn prescient. A Tulane University-led study published last month showed the IPCC had accurately projected the actual sea level rise that’s happened since its 1995 assessment, within just 1 centimeter.
O’NEILL: Sounds like they were spot on. In his speech, the president once again made a point of trashing renewable energy. What did he say there?
DOERING: His words there would not have been surprising to anyone watching his administration’s campaign against solar and wind turbines.
TRUMP: “They’re a joke, they don’t work. They’re too expensive, they’re not strong enough to fire up the plants that you need to make your country great. The wind doesn’t blow, those big windmills are so pathetic and so bad, so expensive to operate.”
O’NEILL: OK, but I thought those renewables are now considered very affordable.
DOERING: They really are. Wind and solar photovoltaics are now the cheapest forms of energy on the planet, according to the International Energy Agency. Speaking during Climate Week NYC, leaders pushed back on President Trump’s claims, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who reminded the audience of the very high stakes:
NEWSOM: “What an abomination, what an embarrassment—what a fraud. And I say that as a guy that lives in one of the most crisis-prone states in America. But a state that’s seen lifestyles, places, traditions completely destroyed because of the reality of climate change. I’ve seen communities like Grizzly Flats and Paradise, California, wiped off the map. There’s no Republican—we’ve said this many times—or Democratic thermometer, just reality. And a lot of us are getting mugged by reality. Wake up—wake up to the reality.”
O’NEILL: Did other world leaders who spoke at Climate Week indicate that they’ve woken up to reality?
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Donate NowDOERING: Absolutely. And for the first time in more than 30 years of the climate treaty, China announced a specific target for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. China pledges to cut emissions by 7 to 10 percent by 2035, which puts it ahead of the United States, which under Trump is making no commitments to address the climate emergency.
The Chinese pledge is modest compared to the European Union, which is expected to pledge a more than 66 percent reduction. Still, experts, including the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, suggest China can achieve a 30 percent reduction by 2035. For now, though, it seems unwilling to be locked into this more ambitious target that would help put serious brakes on the rising rate of climate disruption.
O’NEILL: What else have you seen in reaction to the President’s attacks on climate action and clean energy?
DOERING: At Climate Week NYC, business leaders also spoke out. Andrew Forrest is the executive chairman of the mining company Fortescue, which recently canceled plans to build a $210 million EV battery factory in Michigan after the Republican repeal of clean energy tax credits:
FORREST: “I feel real pain when I hear your president saying global warming is a great big con. Well, fellow businessman, I happen to own several million acres of land in Australia. Come and see what’s happening to my land. Come and dive on these reefs, which were the most beautiful environments on Earth and are now devastated, covered in moss. There’s real damage being done to people’s lives all over the world by your president propagating a complete myth that global warming isn’t happening.”
DOERING: Forrest, this billionaire businessman, also came right out and said our societal obsession with economic growth is totally misguided:
FORREST: “I can’t tell you how irrelevant that is in the fullness of anthropogenic time. You know, you are a blip in time. What matters way more in all of time, of humanity, organic time, is are we going to screw this climate or not?”
DOERING: To me that kind of long view is humbling, in a good way.
O’NEILL: It reminds us we just happen to be the most powerful species on this planet, at the moment, and maybe we should try to be better caretakers of it. And a little more humility about how we live on this Earth would probably serve all of us well.
DOERING: Especially our leaders.
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