Biden's funding for UN green energy projects faces Republican roadblock

No taxpayer 'should have to foot the bill for the United Nations’ radical and unscientific climate agenda,' Republican lawmaker tells Fox News Digital

A Republican lawmaker is introducing legislation Tuesday that would prohibit the federal government from making voluntary contributions to the United Nations Green Climate Fund.

Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., a member of the House Budget Committee, authored the bill — the No Taxpayer Funding for United Nations Green Climate Fund Act — in an effort to restrict the extent to which U.S. taxpayers fund global green energy projects. The so-called Green Climate Fund was established in 2010 to help steer funds from Western nations to the developing world for climate technology.

"No taxpayers, in Virginia's Fifth District or across the country, should have to foot the bill for the United Nations’ radical and unscientific climate agenda," Good told Fox News Digital. 

"The Biden Administration pledge of $1 billion to Green Climate Fund will only undermine the American economy and our energy independence in the name of climate alarmism," the Virginia Republican added.

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WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 10: Rep. Bob Goods (R-VA) speaks during a news conference with the House Freedom Caucus on the debt limit negotiations at the U.S. Capitol Building on March 10, 2023 in Washington, DC. Members of the caucus held the news conference to say they would consider voting to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for enacting legislation that would  "shrink Washington" and bring government spending back to before 2020 and the Covid-19 Pandemic. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

On April 20, President Biden announced his administration would provide $1 billion to the Green Climate Fund which he said was "critical" for helping poorer nations to develop green energy projects and stave off climate change. The president also requested $500 million for an Amazon Rainforest restoration fund and called on world leaders to join in giving to international climate efforts.

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"As large economies and large emitters, we must step up and support these economies," Biden remarked on April 20 at the virtual Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate. "So today, I’m pleased to announce the United States is going to provide $1 billion to the Green Climate Fund, a fund that that is cri- — fund is a — critical in ways to help developing nations that they can’t do now."

"But it should not be the only way," he continued. "Together, we need to strengthen the role of multilateral development banks in fighting climate crisis as well, starting with the World Bank.  Because climate security, energy security, food security, they’re all related. They’re all related."

Biden first announced his intention to boost U.S. contributions to the Green Climate Fund early in his presidency. He increased the overall annual funding goal to more than $11 billion during a 2021 speech to the United Nations in New York City. His administration hopes to reach that annual figure by 2024.

President Biden addresses the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 21, 2021. He announced his intention to double U.S. international climate financing "to help developing nations tackle the climate crisis." (Eduardo Munoz/Pool Photo via AP)

The president's proposed budgets have also routinely requested billions of dollars for "international climate assistance and financing."

Former President Barack Obama promised $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund shortly after its creation. However, his administration fell far short of that goal. The fund was originally designed to give $100 billion to developing countries by 2020, but has instead raised a tiny fraction of that amount.

And former President Donald Trump completely backed out of international climate finance agreements altogether, explaining that they would cost taxpayers a "vast fortune."

"Of course, the world’s top polluters have no affirmative obligations under the Green Fund, which we terminated," Trump remarked in June 2017, shortly after he took office. "America is $20 trillion in debt. Cash-strapped cities cannot hire enough police officers or fix vital infrastructure."

"Millions of our citizens are out of work," he continued. "And yet, under the Paris Accord, billions of dollars that ought to be invested right here in America will be sent to the very countries that have taken our factories and our jobs away from us. So think of that."