Trump withdraws US from the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change singling out India as a major reason to do so
Words: Vandana Devi Images: Various Sources
“We’re getting out”, Trump said at the White House Rose Garden sending tremors across the world. President Trump said that he would withdraw the United States of America from the 2015 Paris agreement on Climate Change. This move fulfilled Trump’s major campaign pledge but drew condemnation from all corners of the world as well as from within the US.
The Paris Agreement on Climate Change is aimed at cutting emissions and keeping the global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Only Syria and Nicaragua were not part of this agreement, and now the US joins them. But the thing to be noted is that Nicaragua decided not to join because it felt like the commitments were not binding.
Trump who has called climate change a hoax multiple times, said that the Paris agreement would undermine their economy, cost them jobs, weaken their national sovereignty and put them at a permanent disadvantage with the rest of the world. Trump said that the agreement favoured India and China. He also went on to say that he would be willing to discuss and work towards a better and more fair deal but Italy and Germany in a rare joint statement said that the agreement could not be renegotiated. Trump also said that it imposed “no meaningful obligations on the world’s leading polluters”. He singled out India to show the unfairness of the deal and said that “India can double their coal production. We’re supposed to get rid of ours.”
The fact however is that, India’s carbon allowance under the Paris agreement is in recognition of the number of Indians (almost 300 million) that still do not have access to electricity. It was also kept in mind that India will need to develop its economy in a carbon-constrained environment unlike the west.
Within the US itself, this decision has received public backlash. The Empire State Building, World Trade Centre, City Hall in New York, Wilson Building in Washington, Boston City Hall are some of the buildings that were lit up green to show commitment to the action on climate change. World leaders have expressed disappointment with the US but have also reinforced their resolve to tackle climate change no matter what.