By Valerie Volcovici and Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Trump administration has terminated federal employees in charge of U.S. global climate policy and climate aid as part of its reorganization of the country’s diplomatic focus, the State Department said on Friday.
The career employees in the Office of Global Change, which came under the State Department’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, played a lead role in U.S. negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Officials from the office also represented the United States at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and their respective shipping and commercial aviation sectors.
The dismissals come after President Donald Trump said he would withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement, as well as from IMO negotiations over decarbonization measures to enable the global shipping industry to reach net-zero emissions by "around 2050".
The United States belongs to the ICAO and had agreed to participate in the UN agency’s Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) and a goal to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The Trump administration, though, has recently objected to ICAO’s move to boost sustainable aviation fuel.
It is not clear how or if the United States will continue to participate in these international agreements, or whether some office functions will be folded into other bureaus. The Trump administration has been aggressively rolling back existing U.S. climate policy and dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development.
A State Department spokesperson said the office had supported efforts to "hobble" the U.S. through participation in climate agreements and is "unnecessary."
CRITICAL MINERALS
There are also changes afoot at the State’s Bureau of Energy Resources.
When it opened during the administration of former President Barack Obama, the bureau helped gather support from allies and partners for sanctions on Iran’s oil exports. In more recent years the bureau, which has about 80 staffers, has focused on developing critical minerals and oil and gas alternatives and weaning countries off Russian fossil fuels.
Internal documents reviewed by Reuters said the Bureau of Energy Resources would be absorbed into the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs "to ensure a laser-like focus on expanding and exporting American energy."
A department spokesperson said the office grew beyond its original purpose and promoted policies "completely inconsistent with the President’s vision of American energy dominance."
The spokesperson said the bureau’s functions it deems useful, such as work on securing access to critical minerals, will be preserved elsewhere in the department.