President Trump on Monday signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement, a pact between nearly all countries fighting climate change.
Withdrawing, the United States will join Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only four countries not party to the accord, under which nations work together to keep global warming below levels that could lead to environmental catastrophe.
The move, one of several energy-related announcements in the hours since his inauguration, there has been another twist in the United States’ participation in global climate negotiations. During his first term, Mr. Trump withdrew from the Paris accord, but 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 backfire on American workers. Along 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 electric vehicles and wind turbines for power generation.
“If they want to be tough on China, don’t punish American automakers and hard-working Americans by giving the keys to our clean cars to the Chinese,” said Gina McCarthy, a former White House climate adviser and former head of the Environmental Protection Administration. “The United States must continue to demonstrate leadership on the international stage if we are to have any impact on how trillions of dollars in financial investments, policies and decisions are made.”
On Monday, Mr. Trump also signed a letter to the United Nations, which administers the pact, notifying the world body of the withdrawal. The withdrawal will become official one year after the submission of the letter.
US efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions were already at a standstill in 2024, and with the arrival of Mr. With Trump in office, it is becoming increasingly unlikely that the United States will follow through on its ambitious promises to cut it even further. Emissions fell only a fraction last year, 0.2 percent, compared to a year earlier, according to estimates published this month by research firm Rhodium Group.
Despite the continued rapid growth of solar and wind power fueled by the previous administration’s climate legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, emissions levels remained relatively unchanged last year as demand for electricity rose across the country, leading to a jump in the amount of natural gas burned. power plants.
The fact that emissions have not decreased significantly means that the United States is still far from achieving Mr. Biden, announced last month under the auspices of the Paris Agreement, to cut greenhouse gases by 61 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Scientists say all major economies would have to make deep cuts in emissions this decade to keep global warming at relatively low levels.
According to the scenario in which Mr. Trump canceled most of Mr. climate policies. Biden, US emissions could fall just 24 to 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, the Rhodium Group found.
“President Trump is choosing to begin his term pandering to the fossil fuel industry and its allies,” the Union of Concerned Scientists said in a statement. “His shameful and destructive decision is an ominous harbinger of what the people of the United States should expect from him and his anti-science cabinet.”
Since 2005, United States emissions have fallen roughly 20 percent, a significant decline at a time when the economy has also expanded. But to meet its climate goals, U.S. emissions would have to fall nearly 10 times faster each year than they have been falling over the past decade.
The United States is also a major exporter of emissions. Because of policies promoted by both Republicans and Democrats, the United States now produces more crude oil and natural gas than any nation in history. Mr Trump has promised further increases in production and exports.
While the United States may not be a party to the Paris Agreement, it will still be part of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which hosts the annual climate talks known as the COP. This year’s COP will be held in Brazil in November, and countries will announce new pledges to reduce emissions.
One a recent study by Climate Action Trackerresearch group, found that if every country followed through on the pledges it has officially made so far, global average temperatures 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 century , well above the 1.5 degrees Celsius that the Paris Agreement originally set as a goal.
“Trump’s irresponsibility is no surprise,” said Christiana Figueres, a Costa Rican diplomat and architect of the Paris Agreement in 2015. “In time, Trump will not be around, but history will unforgivingly point to him and his fossil fuel friends. “
