The Trump administration has quit the board of a landmark fund for addressing climate damages in another move to distance itself from international efforts to curb rising temperatures.
The U.S. exit comes as the fund for so-called loss and damage tries to meet its initial goals toward finding billions of dollars for poorer nations that are feeling long-lasting effects of rising seas, storms and other disasters. It adds to the fallout from President Donald Trump’s rapid dismemberment of U.S. climate policies. He has mostly halted foreign aid, canceled dozens of environmental programs abroad, and stalled the flow of funding for projects created by the Inflation Reduction Act, the cornerstone of former President Joe Biden’s climate agenda.
Rebecca Lawlor, a Treasury Department official who was on the 26-member loss and damage board, notified the group that she was stepping down from her position in a March 4 letter.
The United States’ exit is “effective immediately,” Lawlor wrote in the letter obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News.
