--- title: Trump Calls Climate Change 'Con Job' and 'Scam' in UN Speech description: 'If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail,' Trump told more than 150 world leaders and officials. canonical: https://time.com/7319744/trump-un-speech-climate-change/ author: Solcyré Burga article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-09-23T17:25:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T08:11:23.628Z article:section: Climate og:title: Trump Calls Climate Change 'Con Job' and 'Scam' in UN Speech og:description: 'If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail,' Trump told more than 150 world leaders. og:url: https://time.com/7319744/trump-un-speech-climate-change/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt608228dfe6fbf466/6998c9f607a30df75c77d560/GettyImages-2236462687_e45c30.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: UN-DIPLOMACY-UNGA og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Calls Climate Change 'Con Job' and 'Scam' in UN Speech twitter:description: 'If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail,' Trump told more than 150 world leaders. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt608228dfe6fbf466/6998c9f607a30df75c77d560/GettyImages-2236462687_e45c30.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Calls Climate Change 'Con Job' and 'Scam' in Speech to U.N. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=8f87ab23-2b8c-4932-8a46-47dba9304703&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Trump Argues Recognition of Palestinian Statehood Encourages ‘Continued Conflict’ During U.N. General Assembly Speech [Watch (HLS stream): Trump Argues Recognition of Palestinian Statehood Encourages ‘Continued Conflict’ During U.N. General Assembly Speech](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/yeitXml6.m3u8) (5:40)  _Published 2025-09-23. President Donald Trump took aim at the decision from several countries to recognize Palestinian statehood, arguing that it serves as a "reward" to Hamas during his address at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, September 23, 2025._  by [Solcyré Burga](https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/)  ## Solcyré Burga Reporter Sep 23, 2025 5:25 PM UTC President Donald Trump took aim at the decision from several countries to recognize Palestinian statehood, arguing that it serves as a "reward" to Hamas during his address at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, September 23, 2025.  by [Solcyré Burga](https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/)  ## Solcyré Burga Reporter Sep 23, 2025 5:25 PM UTC President Donald Trump called climate change the “greatest con job ever perpetuated” and a “scam” during his address at the [United Nations General Assembly](https://time.com/7319614/president-trump-united-nations-general-assembly-speech/) on Tuesday. In a lengthy diatribe against the long-established science, President Trump [said climate change](https://time.com/7314000/trump-administration-climate-report-scientists/) was “made by stupid people” and warned other countries against enacting green policies. “If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail,” he told the audience of more than 150 world leaders and other officials. “All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong,” Trump claimed. “They were made by stupid people.” **Read more**: [_Scientists Slam Trump Administration’s Climate Report as a ‘Mockery’_](https://time.com/7314000/trump-administration-climate-report-scientists/) “They said global warming will kill the world, but then it started getting cooler. So now they could just call it climate change, because that way, they can’t miss. It’s climate change, because if it goes higher or lower, whatever the hell happens, there’s climate change,” he continued. Trump also claimed the “carbon footprint is a hoax made up by people with evil intentions, and they’re heading down a path of total destruction.” The science behind climate change is supported by decades of research showing[ the](https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/evidence/) unprecedented warming rate of the Earth. Climate change is causing hotter temperatures, stronger and more frequent storms, and increased drought risk, among other issues. And while a 1989 statement from a U.N. official claiming that nations could be wiped off the Earth by 2000, which Trump pointed to, has indeed not come true, there are rising concerns about how the effects of climate change are already impacting vulnerable communities. Weather-related disasters have already caused 220 million internal displacements in the last decade, [according to the UNHCR](https://www.unrefugees.org/news/how-climate-change-impacts-refugees-and-displaced-communities/). Trump’s remarks follow a pattern of attempts by his administration to diminish the threat of climate change. A recent Department of Energy (DOE) report characterized climate change as “less damaging economically than commonly believed.” More than 85 scientists [denounced](https://time.com/7314000/trump-administration-climate-report-scientists/) the report, accusing officials of cherry-picking facts and figures to allow for the administration’s fossil fuel ambitions. The Trump Administration has also [dismantled](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/24/rubio-eliminates-climate-office-00308505) the State Department office behind climate negotiations and [targeted regulations](https://alaskabeacon.com/2025/09/22/trumps-epa-is-dismantling-the-endangerment-finding-of-the-climate-crisis/) aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft engines. During his last term, the President pulled the U.S. from the Paris climate accord. Trump celebrated his many climate-related actions on Tuesday: “The United States has been taken advantage \[of\] by much of the world, but not anymore,” Trump said when discussing U.S. energy exports." Trump’s statements come just one day before the 2025 UN Climate Summit, where countries [will present](https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/climate-summit-2025) their new climate action policy plans. ## Transcript What is the purpose of the United Nations? The UN has such tremendous potential. I've always said it. It has such tremendous, tremendous potential. But it's not even coming close to living up to that potential. For the most part, at least for now. All they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter and then never follow that letter up. My administration has negotiated one historic trade deal after another, including with the United Kingdom, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and many, many others. Likewise, in a period of just seven months, I have ended seven unending wars. They said they were unmendable. You're never going to get them solved. Some were going for 31 years, two of them 31. Think of it 31 years. One was 36 years. One was 28 years. I ended seven wars and in all cases they were raging with countless thousands of people being killed. This includes Cambodia and Thailand. Kosovo and Serbia. The Congo and Rwanda. A vicious, violent war. That was. Pakistan and India. Israel and Iran. Egypt and Ethiopia. And Armenia and Azerbaijan. It included all of them. No president or prime minister. And for that matter, no other country has ever done anything close to that. And I did it in just seven months. It's never happened before. There's never been anything like that. Very honored to have done it. It's too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them. And sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help in any of them. All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that on the way up, stopped right in the middle. If the First lady wasn't in great shape, she would have fallen. But she's in great shape. We're both in good shape. We both stood. And then a teleprompter. That didn't work. This is. These are the two things I got from the United Nations. A bad escalator and a bad teleprompter. I didn't think of it at the time because I was too busy working to save millions of lives. That is the saving and stopping of these wars. But later I realized that the United Nations wasn't there for us. They weren't there. I thought of it really after the fact. Not during not during these negotiations, which were not easy. Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize for each one of these achievements, but for me, the real prize will be the sons and daughters who live to grow up with the mothers and fathers because millions of people are no longer being killed in endless and inglorious wars. With Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity demolished, I immediately brokered an end to the 12 day war, as it's called, between Israel and Iran, with both sides agreeing to fight. fight no longer. As everyone knows, I have also been deeply engaged in seeking a ceasefire in Gaza. Have to get that done, have to get it done. Unfortunately, Hamas has repeatedly rejected reasonable offers to make peace. We can't forget October 7th, can we? Now, as if to encourage continued conflict. Some of this body is seeking to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state. The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists for their atrocities. This would be a reward for these horrible atrocities. Europe is in serious trouble. They've been invaded by a force of illegal aliens like nobody's ever seen before. Illegal aliens are pouring into Europe. Nobody is ever. And nobody's doing anything to change it, to get them out. It's not sustainable. And because they choose to be politically correct, they're doing just absolutely nothing about it. And I have to say, I look at London, where you have a terrible mayor, terrible, terrible mayor, and it's been so changed, so changed. Climate change. It's the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion. Climate change, no matter what happens, you're involved in that. No more global warming, no more global cooling. All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong. 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, they actually said during the campaign that a hat, the best selling hat. Trump was right about everything. And I don't say that in a braggadocious way, but it's true. I've been right about everything. And I'm telling you that if you don't get away from the green energy scam, your country is going to fail. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7319744/trump-un-speech-climate-change/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7319744/trump-un-speech-climate-change/"},"headline":"Trump Calls Climate Change 'Con Job' and 'Scam' in Speech to U.N. 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