New Delhi: US President Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement one day into his new role. With this, the US joins the ranks of Iran, Yemen, and Libya, becoming only the fourth country that is currently not a signatory to the 2015 global pact to reduce emissions and combat climate change.
While Iran, Yemen and Libya have never been part of the Paris Agreement, the US—the world’s largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases—is now the first country to leave it.
In an executive order Monday, Trump ordered the US ambassador to the United Nations to “immediately submit the notification” to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, which will take a year. His order harks back to 2017 when he similarly pulled out of the climate pact.
Faced with this move, which had been up in the air since Trump kick-started his presidential campaign, US leaders from Chicago and other states are stepping up and flexing their federal muscle, pledging to uphold the Paris Agreement regardless.
In 2017, when Trump took office for the first time and withdrew from the pact, the US had to wait till 2020 to shake off its climate commitments since Article 28 of the Paris Agreement does not allow countries to leave till three years after joining, which, for the US, was in 2016. In 2021, former US president Joe Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement immediately after taking over the presidential mantle from Trump.
Commenting on these policy reversals, Dr Aarti Khosla, director of Climate Trends, pointed out “the risk of inconsistent climate commitments in such a critical decade for the environment”.
The US had technically only left the Paris Agreement for less than a year last time. But, the decision now seems more terminal, with alarm bells ringing for global climate negotiations and US climate policies under Trump 2.0.
The US exit could influence the participation of other countries in the 2015 climate pact.
Moreover, it could have a dangerous impact on the clean energy transition in India and other countries, said R.R. Rashmi, distinguished fellow at the Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI).
“We knew Trump would leave the Paris Agreement once he wins. The biggest impact would be the drying up of global resource flows since the US is the source of global tech and finance,” Rashmi told ThePrint. “India especially will see a dent in private clean energy investment since the US will now shift focus away from it.”
The executive order from Trump’s office emphasised the need for the US government to put Americans and their interests first, adding that international pacts, such as the Paris Agreement, do not “reflect the country’s values”. Such agreements “steer American taxpayer dollars to countries that do not require, or merit, financial assistance in the interests of the American people”, it also said.
According to the order, despite the one year needed to withdraw, the US government would start to cut back on funding commitments and meetings and revoke the US International Climate Finance Plan. The plan, released in 2021 by Biden, incorporated mechanisms to support developing countries with climate adaptation and clean energy transition.
Opposition to move
Trump’s decision has drawn sharp criticism within the US.
“By leaving the Paris Agreement, this administration is abdicating its responsibility to protect the American people and our national security,” said Gina McCarthy, former White House national climate adviser, in a statement. “Our leaders have to face reality—climate impacts are a clear and present danger. It is not the time to bury our heads in the sand and pretend that more and more devastating, dangerous, and costly disasters won’t be heading our way.”
Additionally, over 5,000 US governors and state and local leaders under the coalition, America All In, have pledged to uphold the Paris Agreement commitments, regardless of the federal government’s decision.
“Chicago and our peer cities are and will remain at the forefront of climate action,” a statement by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson asserted. “As the new federal administration abandons its duty to protect the planet from environmental collapse, Chicago will not waver from our duty to protect our communities’ health, safety, and well-being.”
“The global clean energy boom—worth USD 2 trillion last year alone and rising fast—is the economic growth deal of the decade. Ignoring it only sends all that vast wealth to competitor economies while climate disasters like droughts, wildfires and superstorms keep getting worse,” said UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell. “The door to the Paris Agreement remains open.”
The Paris Agreement is the only climate pact with equal participation of as many as 193 countries. One of the main goals set during its signing in 2015 was to keep global temperature levels at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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