Obama Slams Trump over Climate Change Despite Mixed Environment Record

During the UN Climate Change Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, on Monday, former President Barack Obama lambasted his successor, calling the Trump administration as four years of explicit antagonism toward climate science, according to New York Post's report.

Obama slammed former President Donald Trump for withdrawing the US from the 2016 Paris Agreement during his speech at the COP26 summit, saying the move "stalled" America's progress on climate change.

“I wasn’t real happy about that,” the 44th president said.

Obama attributed the lack of international cooperation on environmental concerns in part to the US's "lack of leadership" during Trump's presidency.

“I recognize that we’re living in a moment when international cooperation has atrophied — in part because of the pandemic, in part because of the rise of nationalism and tribal impulses around the world, in part because of a lack of leadership on America’s part for four years on a host of multilateral issues,” he said.

While he never explicitly named Trump, Obama referred to him as “his successor.”

The 44th president's speech occurred just one week after Vice President Joe Biden appeared at COP26, praising his $1.75 trillion social spending programme, including its investment in "clean energy."

Obama also urged partners to keep cooperating with America, stating that "the US is back" in the fight against climate change.

“The rest of the world stayed in the [Paris] deal. And now with President Biden and his administration rejoining the agreement, the US government is once again engaged and prepared to take a leadership role,” Obama continued.