President Donald Trump branded climate change ‘the greatest con job in the world’ during his address to the United Nations General Assembly, lashing out at countries such as Australia for pursuing renewable energy.
Scientists say climate change is real, mostly caused by humans, and getting worse. They point to rising temperatures, stronger storms, and melting ice as clear signs.
Groups like the UN have warned that waiting too long to act could cause serious damage to the planet and people.
Trump devoted several minutes of his nearly hour-long United Nations General Assembly speech to climate change, warning that countries investing heavily in renewable energy would see their economies suffer.
‘We’re getting rid of the falsely named renewables. By the way, they’re a joke. They don’t work.
‘They’re too expensive; they’re not strong enough to fire up the plants that you need to make your country great. The wind doesn’t blow. Those big windmills are so pathetic and so bad, so expensive to operate, and they have to be rebuilt all of the time and they start to rust and rot. ‘
‘All green is all bankrupt. That’s what it represents. And it’s not politically correct, I’ll be very badly criticized for saying it, but I’m here to tell the truth.’
‘It’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion,’ Trump told the General Assembly.
‘All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong.’
He added: ‘They were made by stupid people that have cost their country’s fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success.’
‘And I’m really good at predicting things, you know?… 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. And if you don’t stop people that you’ve never seen before, that you have nothing in common with, your country is going to fail.
‘I have a little standing order in the White House – never use the word ‘coal,’ only use the words, ‘clean, beautiful coal.’ It sounds much better, doesn’t it?
President Donald Trump branded climate change ‘the greatest con job in the world’ during his address to the United Nations General Assembly
His comments come as Anthony Albanese made sustainable energy a central feature of his UN pitch and ordered Australia to slash emissions by 70 per cent in just 10 years
‘The entire globalist concept of asking successful industrialised nations to inflict pain on themselves and radically disrupt their entire societies must be rejected completely and totally, and it must be immediate.’
Trump also hit out at high immigration around the world, taking a swipe at Eurpope.
‘They’ve been invaded by a force of illegal aliens like nobody’s ever seen before. Illegal aliens are pouring into Europe. Nobody has 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.’
‘In closing, I just want to repeat that immigration and the high cost of so-called green renewable energy is destroying a large part of the free world, and a large part of our planet.
‘Countries that cherish freedom are fading fast because of their policies on these two subjects. You need strong borders and traditional energy sources if you are going to be great again.’
‘Immigration and the high cost of so-called green renewable energy is destroying a large part of the free world and a large part of our planet,’ he said.
‘You need strong borders and traditional energy sources if you are going to be great again.
‘The carbon footprint is a hoax made up by people with evil intentions, and they’re heading down a path of total destruction.’
His comments come as Anthony Albanese made sustainable energy a central feature of his UN pitch and ordered Australia to slash emissions by 62 to 70 per cent in just 10 years.
Kevin Rudd and Anthony Albanese are pictured in New York
Albanese said renewable energy was an opportunity ‘to benefit our economy and grow jobs’.
‘My job is to represent Australia’s national interest. President Trump gave a speech – he’s entitled to give his views,’ he says.
‘I don’t think that they are any views that he hasn’t said before.’
The Prime Minister last week said the target of between 62 to 70 per cent emissions reduction by 2035 would be bolstered by an additional $2 billion for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and a new $5 billion Net Zero Fund to help industries decarbonise.
‘Our government knows that climate change is real and we want to continue to seize the economic opportunity that the energy transition offers our nation,’ he told reporters in Sydney.
Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said the climate target would be ambitious and achievable.
‘The global shift to clean energy is the biggest economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution and it presents Australia with our best ever economic opportunity if we get this right,’ he said.
‘We can use these advantages to power hundreds of thousands of jobs and new investment to set us up for a bright economic future.’
Under the Paris Agreement signed a decade ago, members must increase their emissions reduction targets every five years and cannot water them down.
Nations that signed up must submit their new targets by the end of September.
The president and Melania Trump board an escalator at the UN that later breaks
The First Lady sits in the audience to watch her husband’s speech Tuesday morning
The commitment builds on the existing 2030 target to cut emissions by 43 per cent on 2005 levels and serves as another stepping stone on the way to net zero by 2050.
Environment groups, unions and social services organisations were among those calling for an ambitious target.
The business community was more cautious, warning that emission cuts above 70 per cent would risk more than $150 billion in exports and send companies offshore.
The Paris Agreement, which Australia and 195 other parties adopted in 2015, aims to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
