The Mirror’s environment editor Nada Farhoud explains the importance of the Paris climate Agreement and the implications of President Trump’s reckless withdrawal
While disappointing, it is no surprise that barely a couple of hours into his second term, President Trump moved to withdraw the US from the world’s biggest collective effort to mitigate the worst impacts of the climate crisis.
He has already called climate change “one of the greatest scams of all time,” while ramping up drilling for oil and gas, including in the Arctic during his time in the White House. Quitting what he called the “unfair one-sided Paris climate accord rip off”, he also signed a letter to the United Nations giving it notice that the US – the world’s second biggest emitter of planet-heating pollution.
Although it will take a year before the US can officially leave the pact joining Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only countries outside the global agreement – the move is one of a number of changes that will reverse US climate regulations and boost oil and gas production. President Trump made a similar move during his first term in office, but Biden was quick to reverse that decision when he took office in 2021.
Although not legally binding, the Paris Climate Agreement has seen countries agree to limit global warming to 1.5C in an effort to avoid the most damaging effects of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and transitioning to sustainable, renewable energy sources.
Crucial to this goal are the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) countries must submit by February, which contain country-specific roadmaps for curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
But why is it such a big deal now the US has left? The climate crisis is one of the biggest threats to human rights today, leading to famine, refugee and other humanitarian crises, as well as poverty and homelessness across the globe.
While the world’s most marginalised people will continue to be the hardest hit, no country is spared. You need to look no farther than the fires in California or the devastating flooding in the UK as recent examples of the extreme weather events.
As one of the world’s largest carbon emitters, the US has a responsibility to lead the way in ditching fossil fuels to drastically reduce the damage it is causing. Not only is President Trump skirting that responsibility, such a move will only encourage other leaders to follow suit.
It is not all bad news. The world didn’t back away from the Paris Agreement on climate change when Trump did the last time he was in office. We cannot let him and Big Oil dictate the future of the planet. But this will require the UK and further afield to steep up and fill the climate leadership void.
