President Donald Trump is planning on giving millions to the U.N. mechanism designed to tackle man-made global warming, despite the president’s past budgets dinging funding payments propping up the program’s beefy budget.
Trump’s 2019 budget proposal provided a total of $6.4 million to pay U.S. dues to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its arm, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
That dollar amount was never mentioned in the budget document White House’s Office of Management and Budget, according to a February report from E&E News.
The allocation would “enable the U.S. to effectively advance its interests in these bodies, and to reflect an approach that balances energy security, economic development, and environmental protection,” a State Department official told E&E News. The UNFCC’s core budget for 2018 and 2019 is nearly $60 million, according to the fund’s proposed budget proposal.
Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget plan nixed funding for all U.N. climate programs. The administration crafted the budget under the pledge not to advance U.N. climate objectives. It eliminated dues for the UNFCCC and IPCC, along with the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which provided aid for poor countries attempting to finance various climate change programs.
The U.N. launched GCF in 2010 to promote green energy initiatives around the world. The organization has committed nearly $4 billion to international projects that aim to reduce carbon emissions and help developing countries overcome the impacts of climate change. Conservatives have criticized the fund for being costly and ineffective.
Former President Barack Obama pledged $3 billion to the GCF – he plowed $1 billion into the moribund fund before the Trump administration took over. Trump — as part of his decision to withdraw from the Paris accord — halted U.S. contributions in 2017 and refused to give the remaining $2 billion. The move cut the GCF’s entire budget by 20 percent.
The U.S. is also the World Bank’s largest supporter and shareholder owning 17 percent of organization’s shares. The next largest owner, Japan, owns just under 8 percent. Several bills moving through Congress would grant the World Bank, along with other Multilateral Development Banks, roughly $1.8 billion.
The World Bank works with poor and developing countries to improve their infrastructure. The bank seeks to “galvanize international and national efforts to end extreme poverty globally within a generation and to promote ‘shared prosperity,’ a sustainable increase in the well-being of the poorer segments of society.” The bank’s overarching goal is to bring the percentage of the world’s population living in extreme poverty – on less than $1.90 a day – to 3 percent.
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Time to cut the Useless Nations budget by 100% and save us a bundle no more to the UN who have yet to bring peace
Dissapointing any amount. If we are going to lose that amount, I’d much rather see it going to childrens hospital. Giving to the IPCC I want to say is akin to funding criminals who committed fraud, although I do accept that most in the IPCC don’t know any better. They think its normal to be able to receive substantial contracts for writing up conjectures and theories.
The $6.4 million could have bought a few “wall ” panels . You know something with a real pay back .
Over 700,000 jailed criminals in the USA separated from their families as they serve their time but illegal immigrant using kids as insurance nope… that’s just fine .
Normally when you are in a financial Titanic you have to prioritize . Make those tough choices . Why is the USA government and many others incapable of doing anything but spend money they don’t have ? Have we reached the “ice free arctic ” tipping point ?
Quit peeing the money away on wasteful nonsense which tax payers never asked you to spend it on in the first place .