Olusegun Ariyo
US President Donald Trump lambasted the United Nations and countries around the world during a nearly hour-long speech on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, at the UN General Assembly.
Trump admonished the UN over what he views as its ineffectiveness. He said some countries “are going to hell” over their immigration policies.
US President Donald Trump addresses the 80th United Nations General Assembly
And he blasted climate change measures and what he called the “green energy scam”, claiming renewable energy sources like solar and wind are more expensive than fossil fuel energy.
On the contrary, renewables have driven down the cost of electricity in the US.
Trump touched on everything from Barack Obama’s carbon footprint to his own failed bid years ago to renovate the UN’s headquarters. He mocked wind energy, praised “clean, beautiful coal,” and suggested that environmentalists “want to kill all the cows.”
The president criticised Europe’s high energy prices and what he called an obsession with climate change and green energy. “We stand ready to provide any country with abundant, affordable energy supplies if you need them – and most of you do,” he said, offering US coal and fossil fuels as alternatives.
Responding to Donald Trump’s speech at the UN General Assembly, climate activists called the U.S. president’s push for fossil fuel expansion and climate denial a thinly veiled threat to global peace, progress, and survival.
Namrata Chowdhary, Head of Public Engagement at 350.org, said: “UN Secretary-General António Guterres gave us fair warning earlier today that we have ‘entered an age of reckless disruption and relentless human suffering’. As he said, ‘The pillars of peace and progress are buckling under the weight of impunity, inequality, and indifference.’
“His warning was only emphasised by the erratic speech given by Donald Trump: Reckless. Disruptive. Indifferent. And mocking with impunity the relentless suffering around the world, in a speech hard to distinguish from reality TV of the worst kind.
“Fact-checkers will be kept busy unravelling the many loosely linked threads in that latest missive, but the choice ahead is clear. If we want to protect the planet, world leaders must commit to phasing out fossil fuels and scale up investment in clean, renewable energy that delivers justice and resilience for all.”
Trump’s remarks, which appeared to downplay the urgency of climate action and pushed for expanded fossil fuel investment, come as the world continues to experience record-breaking heat, fires, and floods. At the upcoming UN Climate Summit, world leaders face a stark choice: stand with people and the planet, or with the fossil fuel industry.
On Saturday, more than 600 actions across 87 countries called for world leaders to draw the line on fossil fuels, while in New York, over 25,000 people marched to demand a tax on extreme wealth.
JL Andrepont, US Senior Policy Analyst at 350.org, said: “Trump knows he’s lying, and most Americans know it too. This stream of lies is part of the same fossil-fueled billionaire agenda that got tens of thousands into the NYC streets this weekend, calling for climate justice. The leader of the world’s top polluting country is trying to tell the people – from our Pacific family members to the climate-and conflict-displaced peoples he’s deporting – that their lived reality is not real. But there are far more of us calling for human rights than there are of him and his cronies.
“We refuse to be pawns in Trump’s unjust quest to pad the pockets of billionaires like him. It’s time to draw the line and make billionaires in and out of government pay for the damage they’ve caused and fund the needs of the people.”
The group is calling on governments to commit to phasing out fossil fuels and scale up investment in clean, renewable energy that delivers justice and resilience for all.
