Art of repeal: Trump threatens to exit Paris agreement, India vows to stay

US President Donald Trump

With talks about US President Donald Trump withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, he will finally announce his decision on June 2 (12.30 a.m., India). Last year, former US President Barack Obama under his presidency ratified the Paris agreement which urged 197 parties to keep a check on their greenhouse emissions.

I will be announcing my decision on Paris Accord, Thursday at 3:00 P.M. The White House Rose Garden. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

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— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 1, 2017

Man-made climate change requires all countries to join hands as it poses as a global threat. In the past, developed nations made their riches by exploiting cheap fossil fuel and now preach developing countries to not do the same.

Though they preach, they don't lead by example.

Despite being the second largest carbon emitter, US has the majority of climate change deniers. Majority of ring-wing American politicians don't acknowledge the harm human activities have done to nature.

In 2012, Donald Trump had this to say about global warming:

The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012

If US opts out, it will take a toll on the global efforts to control the greenhouse emissions.

With global warming snowballing, the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UFCCC) decided to bring together 197 parties to agree to keep a check on their greenhouse emissions. The deal's aim is to keep the global temperature below 2 degrees celsius in this century. As of now, 147 out 197 countries have ratified the deal.

Unlike its predecessor, the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris deal holds the same level of stringency in the contract for all the parties. The Kyoto Protocol gave stringent clauses to developed nations and not to developing nations like China.

The countries are also not legally bound to stay in this agreement. The leaving party does not have pay a price for opting out of the deal. The parties are not bound to meet their declared targets.

Despite such lenient terms, Donald Trump termed the Paris agreement as 'not a good deal' for America and is now probably going to exit the deal.

To financially support the developing countries, the deal insisted developed economies to scale up their investment to USD 100 billion annually by 2020. The deal will provide the developed countries a concrete strategy for their investments. Apart from this, funds administered by the Global Environment Facility will also pool in to lift the developing countries' infrastructure.

This was one of the major highlight of the COP21 deal. In order to disincentivize the use of fossil fuels, it was urged that the developed nations support developing countries to adopt alternate sources of energy by providing them latest technology and financial aid.

Even though it is highly likely that US will withdraw from the Paris deal, India is staying diplomatic and focused on its goal. India's energy chief Piyush Goyal stated that Trump's decision will not derail India's take on the Paris deal. He said that India is committed to its stand and it will not be affected by the other parties' decisions.

India ratified the Paris deal on October 2 last year and vowed to try its best to deverease its dependency on fossil fuels and achieve its emission reduction targets.

In CoP21, Prime Minister Narendra Modi listed the ambitious steps India will take up to adhere to the deal. Below are the initiatives India will follow to adopt the low carbon path.

-Stressed on increasing renewable energy sources by shooting up the production of solar energy to 100 GW by 2022.

-It aims to derive at least 40 percent of its electricity from renewable sources and use low-carbon emitting sources by 2030.

-Increasing the excise duties on petrol and diesel

-Increasing the levy on coal four times to Rs 200 per ton.

-Increasing the nuclear capacity to 14,600 MW.

In a recent plan released by the Central Electricity Authority plan, India will stop building new coal plants in 2022 adhering to its Paris deal's target.