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Trump withdraws US from Paris climate agreement, again

ByJayashree Nandi
Jan 21, 2025 09:17 PM IST

This the second time Trump is ordering the US to abandon the Paris agreement — he did so in a 2017 order as well — and the process is expected to take a year

New Delhi:

US President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday. (AFP)
US President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday. (AFP)

President Donald Trump signed an executive order soon after taking office on Monday directing the US’ withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, weakening what has, over the past four years especially, become a global movement to combat the climate crisis.

This the second time Trump is ordering the US to abandon the Paris agreement — he did so in a 2017 order as well — and the process is expected to take a year. The last time, it took longer, and the US’ withdrawal was to kick in a day after Joe Biden took office, which means it never happened.

Paris goals

The Paris agreement is aimed at keeping long-term global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels — the average between 1850 and 1900 — and, if that is not possible, limiting it to below 2 degrees Celsius. The US is the second largest carbon dioxide emitter in the world (after China) currently, but also, historically, the largest polluter. But Trump’s order termed the Paris agreement one of several such global compacts that channel US “taxpayer dollars to countries that do not require, or merit, financial assistance in the interests of the American people”.

The order also sought to immediately cease or revoke any purported financial commitment made by the United States under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) .

“The United States Ambassador to the United Nations shall immediately submit formal written notification of the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement under the UNFCCC. The notice shall be submitted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations... The United States will consider its withdrawal from the Agreement and any attendant obligations to be effective immediately upon this provision of notification,” the executive order said.

This decision has raised alarm among climate scientists and experts. The US is responsible for 20% of historical CO2 emissions globally between 1850 to 2022; per capita emissions of 18 tCO2e/capita compared to global average of 4.7 tCO2e/capita;and cumulative emissions of 11% globally as per United Nations Environment Programme’s Emissions Gap report of 2024.

Global warming

The US decision also comes at a time when global warming has triggered extreme, deadly heat, extreme rain and several other disasters globally and shortly after 2024 was declared both the warmest year on record as well as the first year when the average global temperature broke the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold over pre-industrial level.

Experts said Trump’s announcement of withdrawing from Paris Agreement, a multilateral arrangement to keep global warming from reaching dangerous levels, sets a poor precedent for developing countries like India, and could signal the rest of developed world on thwarting responsibility. To be sure, after the US’ decision to exit the agreement in 2017, no other country (among the 195 other signatories) followed suit. The US now joins countries such as Iran, Libya and Yemen that have not ratified the Paris agreement.

“What Trump has done is a complete denial of the emergency of climate change. It’s not just an executive order to withdraw from Paris Agreement, it’s a reversal of all decisions that were taken to tackle climate change,” said Sunita Narain, director general, Centre for Science and Environment.

“It will be key to observe how Europe and rest of rich world behaves,” added Narain.

“Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement is more than a moral failure — it is a direct threat to global solidarity, multilateral cooperation, and the fight for climate justice,” said Harjeet Singh, Climate Activist and Founding Director of Satat Sampada Climate Foundation.

“This reckless move sends a dangerous signal to developing nations like India, which are demonstrating remarkable leadership with ambitious climate plans despite facing immense challenges. India’s progress relies on fair and robust financial support — support that Trump’s actions have callously undermined,” he added.

The US move is also expected to weaken the drive to create a climate fund that can adequately fund adaptation and mitigation efforts by developing countries, an issue that dominates global climate talks.

Climate funding

The COP29 climate talks ended in Azerbaijan in November last year with developed countries not budging beyond the $300 billion offer for climate finance that has been described as “too little, too late” by negotiators of developing nations and activists alike. The amount, at the centre of an acrimonious couple of closing days, is far short of the $600 billion some developing nations have sought, and may not entirely be in the form of grants from rich nations, which have historically contributed the lion’s share of greenhouse gases. The New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) is meant to build on the $100 billion a year funding that the developed world agreed to give the developing world in 2009, but which it finally did (depending on how it is calculated), in 2022.

To be sure, US has mostly taken a hardline stance at various fora, pushing emerging economies again and again to become contributors of finance. At COP28, the UAE Presidency which was hosting the summit,  pledged $100 million to the fund,  Germany  $100 million,  the UK $40 million to the fund and $25 million  for other funding arrangements for loss and damage  The  US pledged only $17.5 million, despite its economic might and historical responsibility. US has time and again also resisted and pushed back against any reference to historical responsibility.

To be sure, the global market for clean energy technologies has matured significantly since 2017, when the US first decided to exit the Paris accord. The International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook 2024, warned of a fossil fuel surplus, of oil and gas, which are likely to be abundant and cheaper during the second half of this decade as climate policies on energy transition are implemented globally.

“President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement once again was not entirely unexpected. It, however, creates two kinds of uncertainty: Will state-level and corporate action in the US double down on investments and innovation in clean tech? And how will other large historical emitters step up to fill the emissions reduction gap? All large historical emitters have a moral and economic obligation to lead, not retreat, on climate action,” Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) said.

Meanwhile, India must remain steadfast in its commitment to climate action — to capitalise on the strategic opportunities in technology, investment, industrial development, green livelihoods, and greater resilience for the economy. “Climate risks are now macroeconomic risks — and climate policy is now industrial policy. Meaningful collaboration opportunities still exist on adaptation, resilience and insurance against climate shocks on one hand, and development and diversification of clean tech development, manufacturing and supply chains, on the other,” added Ghosh.

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