By Philip Butterworth-Hayes
According to a US State Department spokesperson in response to an Unmanned Airspace question: “Funding for ICAO, along with other international organizations, is currently under review.”
The USA is a major contributor to the agency. According to US State Department figures, the US government contributed over USD22 million to ICAO in FY2023. But earlier this month the State Department issued a strongly worded statement objecting to the recommendation by ICAO’s Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) on proceeding with work on the sustainable aviation fuel programme.
“The United States strongly objects to a recommendation on “sustainable” aviation fuels made during the 13th triennial meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP),” said the statement. “This recommendation to the ICAO Council on multi-cropping, the practice of growing two or more crops on the same land, for sustainable aviation fuels, would unfairly penalize U.S. farmers and significantly benefit Brazil over the rest of the world. The U.S. government believes this proposal is premature and lacks sufficient technical or scientific justification. Despite these issues, CAEP adopted the recommendation, harming U.S. farmers and the aviation industry, while increasing incentives for deforestation of threatened tropical forests.”
The Trump administration has withdrawn from several United Nations agencies in the past few weeks. In February the US government announced it was pulling out of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHRC) agency, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation and in March withdrew from the United Nations climate damage fund established in 2023 to help developing countries most vulnerable to climate change when natural disasters strike.
It is not yet clear whether the US government’s review will result in a partial pull-out of some ICAO programmes, a continuation in funding or a full withdrawal. In 2019 the State Department announced it was refusing to pay at least some of its dues to ICAO because organization had not effectively implemented new protections for whistleblowers.
The final paragraph in the State Department on the CAEP recommendation struck a more conciliatory note: “We deeply appreciate the hard work by ICAO, and the co-chairs and co-facilitators of CAEP and its working groups, in organizing the CAEP session in Montreal this month.”
More information will be published when it becomes available.
For more information
https://2021-2025.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/FY23-Annex-U.S.-Contributions-to-International-Organizations-508-Compliant-12_4_2024.pdf
https://www.state.gov/united-states-objects-to-sustainable-aviation-fuels-recommendation-at-international-civil-aviation-organization-meeting/
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2019/11/state-confirms-us-holding-back-money-from-icao-3974366
https://geneva.usmission.gov/2025/02/05/executive-order-on-certain-un-organizations-and-all-international-organizations/
