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US launches formal process to quit Paris climate accord
The United States can rejoin the accord should President Donald Trump change his mind, or is replaced by any of the Democrats running to defeat him in 2020.
The United States notified the United Nations on Monday of its withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, launching a formal process that will culminate in its exit exactly a year from now.
The United States can rejoin the accord should President Donald Trump change his mind, or is replaced by any of the Democrats running to defeat him in 2020. They all support the agreement, the signing of which in 2016 was spearheaded by President Barack Obama, a fellow Democrat.
“We will continue to work with our global partners to enhance resilience to the impacts of climate change and prepare for and respond to natural disasters,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement in which he announced the start of the formal withdrawal process.
The US will be out of the accord on November 4, 2020, after a mandatory waiting period of a year according to rules, and become the only country to leave the agreement that has been signed by 196 countries and the European Union.
Trump had announced his decision to pull the US out of the deal in June 2017, saying it placed an unfair economic burden on the US. He had also alleged, wrongly, that the accord favoured India and China and that India had demanded, and was granted, billions of dollars to cut its greenhouse gas emissions.
The US president ad wanted to re-negotiate the agreement but all principal signatories, such as India, China and France, decided to move on with what they had, with or without the US.
Trump, who is a climate change skeptic (once said it was a hoax sprung by the Chinese to slow down the US economy), has since rolled back multiple measures initiated by President Obama to enable the US, which is the world’s second largest polluter, to meet its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), as the country-specific targets fixed by countries themselves are called.
The US had pledged to cut its emissions by between 26 and 28% in 2025 from the 2005-level. Due to the current polices in place, it is likely to cut emissions only by 13% to 15%, according to Climate Action Tracker, an independent analysis that tracks progress by countries on the stated goal of the Paris accord to hold global warming below 2 degree Celsius.
“Donald Trump has signed away our future,” Tom Perez, chair of the Democratic National Committee about the launch of the formal withdrawal process. “Democrats believe we must take bold action to combat climate change. That’s what President Obama was doing when he signed the Paris Accord, and that’s what Democrats will keep doing every day – showing America and Donald Trump what true leadership looks like.”
