President Trump signed an executive order on Monday withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement, an agreement by nearly all countries to combat climate change.
With the withdrawal, the United States will join Iran, Libya, and Yemen as the only four countries not participating in the agreement, which seeks to work together to keep global warming below levels that would cause environmental damage.
The move is one of several energy-related announcements made within hours. Since taking office, the United States' participation in global climate change negotiations has taken another turn. Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement during his first term, but President Biden quickly rejoined it in 2020 after winning the White House.
Scientists, activists and Democratic officials denounced the move as deepening the climate crisis and having the opposite effect on American workers. Along with other energy policies Trump laid out on Monday, withdrawing from the deal signals the Trump administration's determination to double fossil fuel extraction and production and move away from clean energy technologies like electric vehicles and wind power. It shows.
Gina McCarthy, a former White House climate change aide and former Environmental Protection Agency director, said, “If you want to be tough on China, give the keys to the clean cars to the Chinese and give American automakers and hard-working I hope they don't punish Americans.” . “If we want to have a say in how trillions of dollars of financial investments, policies, and decisions are made, the United States must continue to demonstrate leadership on the international stage.”
On Monday, Trump also signed a letter to the United Nations, which administers the deal, notifying the world body of his withdrawal. The revocation will become official one year after the letter is submitted.
U.S. efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are already stalled in 2024, and Trump's presidency makes it increasingly unlikely that the U.S. will meet its ambitious pledges for further reductions. Estimates released this month by research firm Rhodium Group show that last year's emissions were down just a fraction of the previous year, at 0.2%.
Emissions levels remained relatively flat last year despite continued rapid growth in solar and wind power, spurred by the previous administration's signature climate bill, the Inflation Control Act. This is due to a sharp increase in electricity demand nationwide, leading to a rapid increase in the amount of natural gas. burned by power plants.
The fact that emissions didn't fall that much means Biden's goal of reducing greenhouse gases by 61 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, announced last month under the auspices of the Paris Agreement, will be met. This means that the US is further off track. It says all major countries will need to make significant cuts in emissions over the next decade to keep global warming to relatively low levels.
In a scenario in which Trump reverses most of Biden's climate policies, U.S. emissions could be only 24% to 40% below 2005 levels by 2030, according to Rhodium Group research. be.
“President Trump is choosing to begin his term by pandering to the fossil fuel industry and its allies,” the Union of Concerned Scientists said in a statement. “His shameful and destructive decisions are an ominous omen of what the American people should expect from him and his anti-science cabinet.”
Since 2005, U.S. emissions have fallen by about 20%, a significant drop at a time when the economy is also expanding. But to meet climate goals, U.S. emissions will need to fall nearly 10 times faster each year than they have in the past decade.
The United States is also a major emitter. Thanks to policies promoted by both Republicans and Democrats, the United States now produces more crude oil and natural gas than any other country in history. Trump has vowed to further expand production and exports.
The United States may not be a party to the Paris Agreement, but it is still part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which hosts annual climate change negotiations known as the COP. This year's COP will be held in Brazil in November, where countries will announce new pledges to reduce emissions.
A recent study by the research group Climate Action Tracker found that average global temperatures would rise by approximately 2.6 degrees Celsius or 4.7 degrees Fahrenheit if countries adhered to the commitments they have so far formally submitted. . By the end of the century, it had reached pre-industrial levels and far exceeded the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal originally set by the Paris Agreement.
“Trump's irresponsibility is not surprising,” said Cristiana Figueres, a Costa Rican diplomat and architect of the 2015 Paris climate accord. “Eventually Trump will be no more, but history will show him and his fossil fuel friends no mercy.”
