U.S. Helped to Weaken Report at U.N. Environment Talks, Participants Say

The New York Times ^ | Dec. 11, 2025, 1:54 p.m. ET | Eric Niiler

[E. Pluribus Unum]

American officials joined Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran in objecting to language on fossils fuels, biodiversity and plastics in a report that was three years in the making.

The Trump administration sided with officials from Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran in a successful effort to block part of a United Nations report about the dire state of the planet because it called for phasing out fossil fuels, switching to clean energy and reducing plastics, according to two participants.

The section targeted was a summary of the Global Environment Outlook 7, a 1,210-page report that translates scientific evidence collected and reviewed by 300 experts into plain language that can be used by governments around the world. It was issued on Monday at the U.N. Environment Assembly in Nairobi.

It was the first time that countries failed to issue a “summary for policymakers” since the United Nations Environment Program began publishing outlook reports in 1997.

During negotiations over the document in October, the U.S. sided with Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran to block the summary from being included, according to David Broadstock, a partner in the Lantau Group, an energy and environmental consulting firm with offices around the Asia-Pacific region, and Patrick Schröder, a senior research fellow at Chatham House, a research organization based in London.

The move was another indication of how sharply the Trump administration has reversed course on the environment. Under the Biden administration, the United States had made tackling climate change a top priority and frequently clashed with oil-producing countries like Saudi Arabia over their approaches to global warming.

Some authors of the study blame U.S. officials for undermining the process by coming in at the last minute to voice opposition. The Trump administration did not send a delegation to the October meeting in Nairobi where the report,,,

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Some authors of the study blame U.S. officials for undermining the process by coming in at the last minute to voice opposition.

Tyrants hate it when people "voice opposition."

[butlerweave]

Most countries are believers because they think they’ll get tons of cash ,LOL

[hal ogen]

At least 3 countries have some sense of reality.

[hal ogen]

Oops...make that 4!

[iamgalt]

Some authors of the study blame U.S. officials for undermining the process“

We need to remove the word “blame” and change it to credit.

[rlmorel]

They say this like it is a bad thing...

[RetiredTexasVet]

Some authors of the study blame U.S. officials for undermining the process by coming in at the last minute to voice opposition.

Some authors of the study blame U. S. Officials for exposing the Global Warming Conspiracy Theory scam... corrected it.

[Albion Wilde]

bump