President Trump on Thursday released a budget blueprint that would slash the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development by 28 percent, and would get there by zeroing out funding for climate change activities around the world that were heavily promoted by President Obama.
Trump’s plan calls for a $10.1 billion cut to State and USAID. That cut reflects cuts to climate change activities at the United Nations, and to a climate initiative at USAID.
Specifically, Trump would cut funding for all UN climate change programs. That’s a blow to Obama and his last secretary of state, John Kerry, who funneled $500 million to the U.N.’s Green Climate Fund just before leaving office.
Obama had pledged $3 billion to the U.N. fund.
Within the U.S., USAID has been running the Global Climate Change Initiative, which is aimed at promoting “low emission development around the world. The program also promotes the use of clean energy, “sustainable landscapes” and “climate integration” in development projects.
Trump’s budget blueprint said one of the new administration’s goals was to “reduce or end direct funding for international organizations whose missions do not substantially advance U.S. foreign policy interests, are duplicative, or are not well-managed.”
Another goal was to focus on “priority strategic objectives,” and a third goal was to ensure a more “appropriate U.S. share of international spending.”
