Trump officials urged to boycott UN climate summit as Trump seethes climate change is a ‘con job’

A coalition of conservative energy and environmental groups is urging leaders within the Trump administration to snub COP-30, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, as President Donald Trump portrays climate change as the greatest con job ever. The 2025 conference is slated to be held in Brazil from Nov. 10-21.

A letter exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital was signed by leaders of seven groups: the Energy & Environment Legal Institute, the American Energy Institute, the Heartland Institute, the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), Truth in Energy and Climate, the CO2 Coalition, and the American Lands Council. It was addressed to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, arguing that the United States should not participate in the conference and that doing so would serve as a concession to what the signatories describe as an anti-American international framework that would limit U.S. energy production and impose costs on taxpayers.

“It’s time America walked away from the U.N.’s endless climate conferences, which have never improved the environment but have impoverished billions while enriching China,” said Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, in comments provided to Fox News Digital. “By refusing to send a delegation to COP-30, the administration can send a clear message: America will no longer be a victim of the global climate hoax.” The letter notes that the United States has participated in the conference since its inaugural launch in 1995, but argues that the meetings and negotiations “have accomplished nothing for the environment.” It contends that, instead, such gatherings have harmed the United States by promoting multitrillion-dollar green policies, gutted the coal industry, driven up energy costs and inflation, compromised the electricity grid, and left the U.S. energy system reliant on technology from Communist China. The letter also asserts that past UN climate activities and treaties contributed to Europe’s dependency on Russia for energy and helped finance Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Heartland Institute President James Taylor cited what he called the hypocrisy of the UN climate talks, arguing that the conference would highlight what he described as a tendency to “saturate the atmosphere with CO2” through officials’ travel while advancing what the letter claims are unaffordable energy policies. “The annual UN climate talks exist solely to saturate the atmosphere with CO2 from people congregating from all around the globe, give traveling perks to government bureaucrats and NGOs, and illustrate the hypocrisy of the self-appointed ruling class,” Taylor said. “By not sending an official U.S. delegation, President Trump would be doing more to reduce carbon dioxide emissions than all the participating nations combined.”

Trump has criticized climate policies enacted by Democratic administrations since retaking the presidency earlier this year, rolling back many Biden-era climate programs through executive orders such as the so-called Unleashing American Energy initiative. The administration’s approach has included efforts to limit disbursement of climate-related funding linked to the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, as cited by the signatories of the letter.

The push comes as Trump used remarks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York to reprise his climate stance, calling climate change a “con job” and arguing that many UN predictions were incorrect. “It’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion,” he said, adding that such forecasts had harmed countries’ fortunes and deprived them of opportunities for success.

The signatories urged that a U.S. absence from COP-30 would signal that Washington will “put America first,” and proposed that the White House instead host a counter conference focused on energy resilience and economic development for developing nations. The letter suggested this approach would offer real solutions rather than the green policies the groups characterize as harmful to growth. Steve Milloy, senior fellow at the Energy & Environment Legal Institute, told Fox Digital that Trump’s recent framing of climate policy supports not sending any officials to Brazil. “There is no need for anyone in the Trump administration to participate in the upcoming UN climate conference in Brazil,” Milloy said. “Let’s move these people forward with proven ideas and opportunities instead of crippling them with green nonsense.”