Trump attacks green energy policies and calls climate change a 'con job'

At the UN General Assembly, the US President defends production of oil, coal and gas

US President Donald Trump during his speech at the UN General Assembly. AFP

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US President Donald Trump railed against the renewable energy movement during his address at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, telling the world's assembled leaders that climate change is the “greatest con job” on the planet.

“All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong,” he said.

Mr Trump has spent much of his second term in office reversing green policies championed by his predecessor, Joe Biden. He withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Accord, expanded US offshore drilling, resumed permitting liquefied natural gas projects and moved to limit tax credit eligibility for wind and solar energy.

“We're getting rid of the falsely named renewables. By the way, they're a joke, they don't work, they're too expensive,” Mr Trump said.

A report published by the International Renewable Energy Agency in July showed that about 90 per cent of renewable energy projects are cheaper than fossil fuels. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said at the time that “the sun is rising on a clean energy age”, pointing to $2 trillion being invested in clean energy in 2024, compared to $1.2 billion in fossil fuels.

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“By throwing away our leadership and global collaboration on climate change, he’s forfeiting our ability to influence how trillions of dollars in financial investments, policies and decisions are made that will shape the course of our economy,” said Gina McCarthy, former White House national climate adviser and now managing co-chair of America Is All In.

Mr Trump largely directed his green energy anger against Europe – also the focus for a tirade against immigration – where renewable energy sources represented 24.5 per cent of the EU's final energy use in 2023, according to the European Environment Agency.

“Europe … has a long way to go, with many countries being on the brink of destruction because of the green energy agenda,” he said.

Mr Trump praised Germany's new government for going “back to where they were with fossil fuel and with nuclear”, although German officials have opposed those claims, saying renewables make up more than half of the country's energy system and that it is shutting coal and nuclear plants.

Mr Trump said the US would continue to produce coal, natural gas and oil, and that it would provide energy supplies to any country that is willing to pay for it.