AGU statement on US withdrawal from climate and environmental organizations and treaties

AGU press contact: Josh Weinberg, (202) 820-6064, [email protected]

WASHINGTON - The Trump Administration's announcement that the United States will withdraw from a multitude of international organizations and treaties that support global cooperation on climate and environmental issues is a grievous setback at a moment when the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are only accelerating and when scientific expertise and collaboration are indispensable to addressing them.

Some of these bodies and treaties form the backbone of international climate cooperation. At the center is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the treaty that established the global framework for stabilizing greenhouse gases and negotiated the Paris Agreement. Complementary bodies such as UN Water, UN Energy, and UN Oceans support emissions reduction efforts, sustainable energy policy, and ocean governance.

Others serve as major forums advancing the global energy transition - a transition that will shape economic competitiveness for decades to come. These include the International Renewable Energy Agency, the International Solar Alliance, the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century, and the 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact.

Still others are essential to conservation and ecosystem stewardship, including the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme. Their work supports sustainable forestry, biodiversity protection, and climate adaptation for some of the world's most vulnerable regions and communities.

Withdrawing from these venues removes U.S. scientific expertise and leadership from the global tables where climate, energy, and conservation strategies are debated and shaped. It sidelines American scientists and technical experts from the policy conversations that determine how the world responds to climate change.

America's absence will leave avoidable gaps in data, research, and capacity that other nations and institutions must now scramble to fill, slowing collective progress at the very moment when global action must accelerate.

The scale of disruption now underway is immense, but AGU's resolve to keep U.S. scientific expertise engaged globally remains strong.

As an official observer, AGU will remain active at UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) and other international scientific and policy forums, as we firmly believe that science and scientific ethics must continue to have a seat at the table, especially now as the U.S. federal government walks away.

AGU and partner institutions will continue to support U.S. and U.S.-based scientists through the U.S. Academic Alliance for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), ensuring participation in the seventh IPCC assessment and keeping U.S. climate expertise visible and engaged in the world's leading assessment process.

We will also explore new pathways for U.S. scientists to contribute to climate research, solutions, and public communication, both at home and internationally. But no single organization can carry this work alone. It requires scientists, professional societies, universities, and the broader scientific ecosystem pulling in the same direction.

AGU is committed to catalyzing that effort. Through our scientific meetings, scholarly journals, and global partnerships, we are ensuring that scientific expertise - in the United States and around the world - remains visible, accessible, and usable for real-world decision-making.

Alongside societies and advocacy groups, we are also calling on Congress to safeguard the capacity of the U.S. scientific enterprise. That requires not only robust federal science funding but also protecting the federal scientific workforce from efforts to dismantle it through mass firings. AGU has taken legal action to challenge these actions because weakening the federal scientific workforce undercuts the nation's ability to meaningfully participate in global climate assessments, negotiations, and solutions.

Ultimately, resisting policies that harm science will require a broad coalition. It will take scientific institutions defending their missions, professional organizations aligning behind shared goals, and policymakers hearing loud and clear that scientific expertise belongs in the rooms where decisions are made. The work ahead is collective, and AGU will be among those working to strengthen the scientific enterprise for months and years to come.

AGU (www.agu.org) is a global community supporting more than half a million professionals and advocates in Earth and space sciences. Through broad and inclusive partnerships, we advance discovery and solution science that accelerate knowledge and create solutions that are ethical, unbiased and respectful of communities and their values. Our programs include serving as a scholarly publisher, convening virtual and in-person events and providing career support. We live our values in everything we do, such as our net zero energy renovated building in Washington, D.C. and our Ethics and Equity Center, which fosters a diverse and inclusive geoscience community to ensure responsible conduct.