Trump plans to pull the US out of the Paris climate accord

The White House on Monday said President Trump was withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement, the pact among nearly all nations to fight climate change.

By withdrawing, the United States joins Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only four countries not part of the accord, under which nations work together to keep global warming below levels which could lead to an environmental catastrophe.

The move, one of several announcements in energy in the hours immediately after his inauguration, is also another face in the participation of the United States in the global climate negotiations. During his first term, Mr. Trump withdrew from the Paris agreement, but then President Biden quickly rejoined in 2020 after winning the White House.

Scientists, activists and Democratic officials have attacked the move as one that will deepen the climate crisis and the focus on American workers. Coupled with Mr. Trump’s other energy measures on Monday, the withdrawal from the pact signals his administration’s determination to double down on fossil fuel extraction and production, and to move away from clean energy technologies such as and electric vehicles and wind turbines that generate power.

“If they want to be tough on China, don’t punish American automakers and hard-working Americans by handing the keys to our clean cars to the Chinese,” said former House climate adviser Gina McCarthy. Bianca is former head of the Environmental Protection Administration. . “The United States must continue to show leadership on the international stage if we want to have anything in terms of trillions of dollars in financial investments, policies and decisions being made.”

To remove the United States from the Paris Agreement, the Trump administration needs to formally submit a letter of withdrawal to the United Nations, which administers the pact. The withdrawal will become official one year after the presentation. It was not immediately clear whether the administration had already submitted the formal letter of withdrawal.

US efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions had already stalled by 2024, and Mr Trump’s entry into office makes it increasingly unlikely that the US will meet its ambitious commitments to cut further more. Emissions fell only a fraction last year, 0.2 percent, compared to the year before, according to estimates published this month by the Rhodium Group, a research company.

Despite the continued rapid growth of solar and wind energy that was spurred by the previous administration’s signature climate legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, emissions levels remained relatively flat last year because the demand for electricity has grown throughout the country, which has led to a peak in the amount of natural gas. burned by power plants.

The fact that emissions have not dropped much means that the United States is even further off track to achieve Mr. Biden’s goal, announced last month under the auspices of the Paris Agreement, of slashing greenhouse gases 61 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Scientists say that all major economies will have to cut their emissions deeply this decade to keep global warming at relatively low levels low

In a scenario where Mr. Trump rolled back most of Mr. Biden’s climate policies, U.S. emissions could fall to only 24 to 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, the Group Rhodium found.

“President Trump has chosen to start his term for the fossil fuel industry and its allies,” the Union of Concerned Scientists said in a statement. “His unfortunate and destructive decision is an ominous harbinger of what people in the United States should expect from him and his anti-science cabinet.”

Since 2005, US emissions have fallen by about 20 percent, a significant drop at a time when the economy is still expanding. But to meet its climate goals, US emissions would need to fall nearly 10 times faster each year than they have fallen in the last decade.

The US is also a big exporter of emissions. Because of policies promoted by Republicans and Democrats, the United States is now producing more crude oil and natural gas than any nation in history. Mr. Trump has promised to boost production and exports.

While the United States will not be a party to the Paris Agreement, it will still be part of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which hosts annual climate negotiations known as the COP. This year’s COP will be held in Brazil in November and nations will announce new commitments to reduce emissions.

One recent study by Climate Action Trackera research group, found that if every country followed through on the pledges they have formally submitted so far, the average global temperature would be on track to rise by about 2.6 degrees Celsius, or 4.7 degrees Fahrenheit, above pre-industrial levels by the end of the year. century, well above the 1.5 degrees Celsius the Paris Agreement originally set as a goal.

“Trump’s irresponsibility is not a surprise,” said Christiana Figueres, a Costa Rican diplomat and an architect of the Paris Agreement in 2015. “In time, Trump will not be around, but history will point to him and their unforgiving fossil fuel friends.”