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US President Donald Trump has said he will pull the US out of the Paris climate accord, which undermines global efforts to reduce global warming following the hottest year on record.
The move was announced on Monday after Trump took the oath of office, replacing Joe Biden as US president.
“President Trump will withdraw from the Paris climate accord,” the White House said in an email listing the new administration's priorities less than half an hour after the new president took office.
America's withdrawal from the 2015 accord, which was signed by nearly 200 countries, means the world's biggest polluter will renege on its commitment to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Rachel Cleetus, director of policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the US withdrawal was “cruel” and “clearly against the grain of science”.
In his inaugural speech, Trump said he would want to make more use of US reserves and gas. He has previously described climate change as a “hoax”.
Last year was the first calendar year in which the average temperature exceeded the Paris agreement's target of limiting warming from pre-industrial times to below 2C and preferably to 1.5C.
The world is on a warming path rise up to 2.9C above pre-industrial levels, according to a UN report.
The US is the only country that has left the Paris agreement – under the first Trump administration in 2017, in a process that took more than two years. But it reconvened under Biden in February 2021. Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro also threatened to resign, but never followed through.
The head of the United Nations' climate change arm responsible for the Paris accord, Simon Stiell, said on Monday: “The door is always open . . . and we welcome constructive engagement from all countries.”
Laurence Tubiana, a key architect of the Paris agreement, said the US move to quit was “unfortunate” but the agreement was “stronger than the politics and policies of one country.”
Some experts say Trump's move to reverse Biden's “green” policies will benefit China, a major producer of electric vehicles, solar panels and batteries.
“China will be happy to wave in the rearview mirror one of its world-leading EVs, as American manufacturers roll over,” said Tim Sahay, associate director of net zero policy at Johns Hopkins University.
The Biden administration has raised the bar on US climate targets in its last month in office, setting a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the economy by 61 to 66 percent by 2035 from 2005 levels.
At the last UN climate conference in Baku, Joe Biden's climate adviser John Podesta admitted that US efforts to deal with global warming could be “put in a hot spot” under the Trump White House, but he tried to reassure US allies that this would not stop global warming. . transition to green energy and technology by businesses, states, cities and local authorities.
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