United States President Donald Trump’s decision withdraw from the Paris climate agreement is reckless and short-sighted. But his announcement won’t torpedo the accord, which was signed by nearly 200 nations and united the globe in fighting global warming.
The withdrawal does not speak for all of America. Major US corporations urged Mr Trump to stay in the Paris Agreement. Several mayors promised to meet the commitments agreed to under the accord and the US Climate Alliance, and also to meet the US emissions reduction pledges under the Paris Agreement.
The jobs in the coal sector that Mr Trump is championing are also not coming back. The coal sector’s demise is resulted from the huge shift in the US economy towards cleaner energy as power generators are shifting to cheaper and more efficient shale gas and competitive renewable energy.
There will not be a renegotiation of the Paris Agreement, despite Mr Trump’s statement that he is open to deal-making.
Mr Trump will be reminded that the US, the world’s second greenhouse gas polluter after China, has a global and moral responsibility to lead the effort to cut planet-warming emissions resulting from fossil fuels. Historically, the US has emitted far more pollution from burning coal, oil and gas than any other nation. That fact seems to be ignored by Mr Trump and his anti-climate pact supporters in Washington and a handful of coal-mining states.
By withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, Mr Trump has tarnished America’s image and risked investments in the clean energy sector. He ceded a key leadership role to China and the EU, which have both pledged to fully implement the Paris Agreement, a vital sign that the pact will survive.
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Source: The Straits Times, 3 June 2017