President Donald J. Trump delivered some harsh truths about climate policies before the United Nations (UN) General Assembly last week.
The 45th and 47th president accurately pointed out that climate alarmist predictions, including those originating from the UN, have never panned out.
“All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong,” Trump mused. “They were made by stupid people that have cost their country’s 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, and I’m really good at predicting things, you know.”
President Trump added, “The primary effect of these brutal green energy policies has not been to help the environment. But to redistribute manufacturing and industrial activity from developed countries that follow the insane rules that are put down to polluting countries that break the rules and are making a fortune.”
The President is absolutely correct. But this isn’t the first time he warned our European friends about energy scarcity. During his 2018 address before the same body, President Trump pointed out German dependency on Russian energy.
“Germany will become totally dependent on Russian energy if it does not immediately change course. Here in the Western Hemisphere, we are committed to maintaining our independence from the encroachment of expansionist foreign powers,” Trump said in September 2018. A now-viral clip of the then-German delegation, including former Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, showed them laughing and scoffing at his remarks.
Fast forward to today: Trump’s predictions about European dependency on Russian oil and gas came true following Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Today, there is less smirking and even agreement among more nations.
Shortly after UN Week concluded, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy echoed President Trump about European reliance on Russian energy. He chastised his European counterparts, who purport to support his country, to stop funding both sides of the war with continued purchases from Kremlin-run energy companies, stating on X:
“Europe must stop importing any Russian oil and gas. All this money is spent by Russia directly on the war. We see no increase in social support inside Russia, which means all of these funds are going to the war…”
In the early days of the second Trump administration, the President ordered swift withdrawal from U.N. organizations–including the Paris Climate Agreement. This is the second time a U.S. administration withdrew from the 2015 Paris Accords. Here’s how the Trump-Vance administration justified their exit from a Day One executive order on Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements issued January 20th, 2025: “Over decades, with the help of sensible policies that do not encumber private- sector activity, the United States has simultaneously grown its economy, raised worker wages, increased energy production, reduced air and water pollution, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The United States’ successful track record of advancing both economic and environmental objectives should be a model for other countries.”
The U.S. isn’t the only nation to sour on net-zero climate mandates. Many nations see what a farce the U.N.’s Paris Climate Accord, enacted a decade ago, truly is. There’s no greater example than Europe–especially in the 27 number European Union (EU) bloc - where this is playing out. The Baltics have totally weaned themselves off of Russian energy and electricity. Many Western European nations - particularly Spain - still import the Kremlin’s resources into their nations, despite claiming to be pro-Ukraine.
The New York Times observed, “Climate activists were once venerated as moral authorities by heads of state and a broadly liberal mass media; now they are being given jail sentences stretching multiple years for the crime of merely planning protests that might block up commuter traffic or for throwing paint against plexiglass they knew would protect the artwork hung behind it — a victimless publicity stunt if ever there was one.”
Here’s an inconvenient truth for renewable energy and net-zero advocates: No developed or developing nation is on track to stave off 1.5 Celsius degrees by 2050. Nor do most countries support phasing out fossil fuels by arbitrary deadlines once they realize the “transition” to clean energy isn’t happening. The result: reliable power plants are prematurely shut off and energy costs subsequently increase. Hence, the electricity crisis we are witnessing today.
In fact, the opposite is occurring: production and consumption of oil, coal, and natural gas - along with nuclear energy - continues to globally grow. Even the International Energy Agency (IEA) recommended reinvestment in oil and gas production in their September 2025 report titled, “The Implications of Oil and Gas Field Decline Rates.”
Despite billions in “climate investments” and government mandates, the so-called “transition” to clean energy isn’t happening. The cost to globally transition to net-zero by 2050 is $215 trillion. Yet, per the most conservative estimates, such a mandate will only stave off 0.2 of a degree Celsius at best.
That’s why President Trump is right: the rushed transition to 100% renewables by 2050 is a scam. Net-zero is a degrowth movement that will only reduce quality of life and destroy the economy without any positive environmental gain.