America’s Paris Agreement Exit: 5 Key Questions
Trump sent more shock waves around the world recently when he announced that he would be pulling the US out of the Paris Agreement on climate change. With all the talk surrounding such an action, here is everything you need to know to get you up to date with what this means and what its implications are.
What is the Paris Climate Agreement?
The Paris Agreement is a concerted global climate effort that aims to bring all nations together to work towards a common goal of combating climate change and adapting to its effects, with the knowledge that this entails supporting developing countries to do the same, as the first and worst people hit by climate change are the poor, vulnerable and marginalized.
What are the Paris Agreement’s central aims?
The main goals of the Paris Agreement is to keep the global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius, to limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity to the same levels that trees, soil and oceans can absorb naturally, and to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change. These goals are to be reached via new technology frameworks and appropriate financial flows in order to support the most vulnerable countries.
Who is a part of the deal?
197 parties have signed the Paris Agreement and 147 of those countries have ratified it. With the exit of the United States, Trump has joined Syria and Nicaragua as the only countries not party to the Agreement. Nicaragua declined to sign the agreement at its initiation because it believed that the accord did not go far enough. Syria, on the other hand, given the country is likely on the verge of becoming a failed state as a result of its ongoing civil war, was never expected to sign the agreement.
Why did Trump back out?
In his speech explaining his decision, Trump framed his choice as part of his agreement to always put America first: “The Paris agreement handicaps the United States economy in order to win praise from the very foreign capitals and global activists that have long sought to gain wealth at our country’s expense. They don’t put America first. I do, and I always will.” He topped off his stellar speech by announcing: “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.”
From this somewhat vague speech, it could be determined that the main reasons why Trump decided to back out of the Agreement was that he did not believe it benefited the citizens of the United States and instead advantaged other nations instead of them. He also believes that the Agreement would hamper the economy of the country as it supposedly imposes a “draconian financial” burden on the US and could harm US industries and jobs.
What is Trump missing?
Trump is missing the point behind a global climate effort. This agreement is not meant to solely benefit the US. Sometimes, as a member of a global community, you have to work together to make the world a better place. Nevertheless, by making the world greener, this of course will have a positive impact on the US. His statement that he was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris, is baffling. The Paris Climate Agreement is not there to solely benefit Paris; it is only named after the city because that is where the original Conference took place in 2015. Again, this is a global agreement and will therefore have a global positive impact. It would benefit citizens all over the US as well as citizens in other nations, because it will lead to a safer, cleaner future for everyone.
In response to the idea that the Agreement would harm the US economy, Trump seems to be ignoring the benefits that would come from being a part of the Paris Climate Agreement, including potential green jobs, which would help boost the economy and create new opportunities for citizens of the US. Furthermore, clean energy could lower costs for the country. Lastly, it is unlikely that industries would remain static and be paralyzed by the Agreement but instead would change to adapt to the regulations and thus continue to grow and develop.
Furthermore, although Trump thinks that the Agreement is attacking the US by placing a larger burden on them than other nations, he is forgetting that the US, as a developed country, will produce more greenhouse gases than developing countries. The US actually produced a lot more greenhouse gases than the majority of other nations in the world and as such, their burden should be representative of this. For example, on a per capita basis, the US in 2015 produced more than double the carbon dioxide emissions of China and eight times more than India. The burden placed on the US, therefore, was completely fair and reasonable and did not put them at a disadvantage in comparison to other nations, as the commitments are all balanced against the emissions of each country.
What impact has his decision had?
Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement risks subverting the Paris deal as a whole. The US emissions reduction pledge accounts for a fifth of the global emissions to be avoided by 2030, as the US assumes 17.89% of global emissions, making it the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases behind China’s 20.09%. Climate Interactive have analysed the impact that this could have and shown that a regression by the US could warm the world by an additional 0.3C by 2100, pushing the global temperature rise well beyond 2C and thus undercutting one of the main aims of the Agreement. Such a rise in temperature has the dangerous ability to cause massive heatwaves, sea level rise, the displacement of millions of people and the loss of ecosystems such as coral reefs. In order to counteract such an affect, the remaining participants are faced with the daunting prospect of having to try to make up the shortfall in emissions cuts caused by the US abandoning the agreement, but this is a huge burden to take on.
On the other hand, many states, cities and companies in the US, unlike Trump, realize that climate policies are sensible and needed. More than 1,400 companies and institutions have signed the statement — ‘We Are Still In’ — saying that they’re committed to meeting the Paris targets. Furthermore, a dozen states and more than 200 cities have also announced their commitment to the Paris accord. These alliances with the Paris Agreement hopefully mean that US emissions are likely to be reduced anyway, regardless of Trump’s decision.
There were also concerns that the announcement by the US that they would be pulling out of the Agreement would encourage other countries to do the same. Thankfully, this has not happened. The European Union, China and India have all reaffirmed their commitment to the agreement.
Trump’s decision has affirmed the idea that he believes global warming to be a hoax. As well as tweeting his opinions on the matter, he has also appointed Scott Pruitt, a climate change skeptic, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Since his appointment, the EPA have removed climate change information from its website and dismissed scientists from an advisory board. These decisions, along with his resolution to pull out of the Paris Agreement, show that he is missing the necessary understanding of climate change and the dangers that it poses. He is clearly ignorant to facts and scientific evidence, choosing instead to believe that it is some big conspiracy theory out to get the US.
Edited by Ed McCombe.
