US withdrawal from Climate Change Pact

The 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change is unique for bringing all the countries of the world together in support of a common cause. When Donald J. Trump said during his presidential campaign that he would pull the United States out of this agreement which it spearheaded, and was signed by 193 countries, most observers did not quite believe he would honour the election promise. This is because such an action would not only be destructive of the environment and US influence in the world, it would pose a risk to the hundreds of billions of dollars invested in clean energy by US corporations.
Beside the millions of jobs created by clean energy in the US, the Paris Agreement represents hope that humanity, by reducing its emissions and being a little more thoughtful about preserving the environment, might begin to heal and eventually save the planet from what appears like an inescapable catastrophe.
But on June 1, President Trump shocked the world and announced that the US would cease all participation in the Climate Change Agreement. He was open to a re-negotiation of the agreement to secure a better deal for the United States. His grouse was that the US was going to pay more money than any other nation, which his well-known parsimoniousness did not permit. He did not also add that 29.5 per cent of the world’s emissions generated by the US is by far the largest in the world. China comes a distant second with 14.3 per cent.
Trump rationalised the withdrawal, arguing that it would help boost American businesses and employ workers, especially in the fossil fuel and coal industry, and would be in accordance with his “America First” policy. By the terms of the agreement, however, the earliest possible date of America’s withdrawal would be November 4, 2020, which is four years after the agreement went into effect in the US and, coincidentally, a day after the 2020 presidential election.
Reactions to President Trump’s announced withdrawal were predictably swift. The European Union, through the new French President, Emmanuel Macron, rejected the action and stated with a tone of finality that the Climate Change Agreements cannot be renegotiated because it took more than a dozen years of intense delicate bargaining to construct. The Vatican denounced it as a “huge slap in the face” for the world. Even Israel regretted that President Trump rejected “a rare occurrence in which the world united.” Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, described it as an “appalling abdication of leadership.”
The negative reactions were appropriate in the circumstance because Trump’s decision was wrongheaded and it is not surprising that the States of California and Washington have formed the United States Climate Alliance to continue to advance the objectives of the Paris Agreement despite Trump’s withdrawal. It is also not surprising that two critical members of the president’s advisory council, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and Space X, and Roger Iger, the CEO of Walt Disney, resigned their positions in protest. Hundreds of US blue chips, including Apple, Facebook, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Unilever and Intel, sent protests.
The scientific basis of the Paris Agreements is beyond dispute, yet Trump and his coterie of Republican Climate Change deniers have stuck to their guns. Indeed, Environmental Scientist and risk assessor, Dana Nuccitelli, stated that it “now seems inevitable that the history books will view Trump as America’s worst-ever president.”
The issue of saving the planet is beyond politics. The reality of climate change is not a hoax or a conspiracy of the Chinese. Thus, it defies logic that an American president would abdicate the primacy which his country gained in so crucial an issue which benefits mankind. We hope Trump changes his mind before his withdrawal takes effect. But, we are buoyed by the massive support of the Paris Agreement by an overwhelming majority of Americans who have disagreed with their president and seem committed to the survival of the planet. The proactive role of the Chinese in stepping up to take the position formerly occupied by the US in the matter is truly reassuring, confirming that nature abhors a vacuum and that President Trump’s actions in re-defining America downwards would further push China and Europe towards replacing the United States in world affairs.