President Trump has gone against the shared wisdom of almost every country on the planet by announcing his withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord, citing domestic economic concerns.
“In order to fulfil my solemn duty to protect America and its citizens,” Trump said, “the United States will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord”.
Trump has previously been quite outspoken in his scepticism with regard to global warming but did not outwardly base his decision on these convictions. Rather, he argued, the deal as it stands places an unfairly large burden on the American economy.
“As someone who cares deeply about the environment, which I do, I cannot in good conscience support a deal that punishes the United States — which is what it does -– the world’s leader in environmental protection, while imposing no meaningful obligations on the world’s leading polluters”
The Paris Agreement consists of various obligations to be met by the 195 signatory countries aimed at limiting global temperatures to below 2C higher than pre-industrial levels. The commitments involved are technically voluntary, with the hope being that the combined pressure of all countries involved, through regular stock-taking, incentivises each country to do their bit. Due to the varied economic statuses of the countries involved, the commitments are also varied. Already industrialised nations (such as the US) are deemed to be at an advantage compared to less industrialised nations, such as India. More industrialised nations have been able to take advantage of large scale use of fossil fuels to get where they are today; the opportunities for such progress in less developed nations would be greatly hampered were they forced to face the same limitations from here on. As such, concessions are allowed, with countries like India being permitted more carbon emissions growth than the US, according to the agreement, and also benefiting from financial aid to help with emissions mitigation.
India in particular was singled out by Trump, due to their being allowed to “double their coal production [by 2020, while] we’re supposed to get rid of ours”. The reason India is being permitted this extra coal development is, in part, because of the 300 million Indians currently living without electricity. Furthermore, as the Guardian’s South Asia correspondent Michael Safi explains: “in May, around 13.7GW of coal projects were cancelled. India’s national energy agency has predicted no new coal plants, other than those already in the pipeline, may be required until at least 2027.”
The US, as the second largest polluter in the world (behind China) while also one of the richest in terms of GDP, would therefore shoulder more of the burden than many others, under the terms of the accord.
However, international obligations of this kind are at odds with the America-first policy underpinning the Trump administration’s ideology. Trump suggested that the real reason “foreign lobbyists” had such support for the deal is because “it’s to give their country an economic edge over the United States”.
He added: “That’s not going to happen while I’m President. I’m sorry.”
Responding to Trump’s decision, various other UN member states, as well as several lobbying groups and even some US states, have expressed disappointment, and have doubled down on support for the accord.
A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said yesterday (before Trump’s announcement, but after reports surfaced saying that he would make it) that they remain committed to the terms of the deal.
“China will stay committed to upholding and promoting the global governance on climate change, and take an active part in the multilateral process on climate change.
“We will work with all relevant parties to safeguard the outcomes of the Paris Agreement, press ahead with the negotiation and implementation of the enforcement rules, and promote green, low-carbon and sustainable growth of the world.”
