Donald Trump signs order withdrawing from Paris climate treaty. Here's how the world is reacting

US President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House on Inauguration Day in Washington. (Courtesy: Reuters photo)

Donald Trump on January 20 signed an order to pull out the United States, a top carbon polluting nation, from the Paris climate agreement. The announcement came as the 78-year-old was sworn in as the 47th US President. In 2017 too, during his first term as President, Trump had announced that the US would abandon the global Paris accord.

The Biden administration last month offered a plan to cut US greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60 per cent by 2035.

The 2015 Paris agreement allows nations to provide targets to cut their own emissions of greenhouse gases from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas. Those targets are supposed to become more stringent over time, with countries facing a February 2025 deadline for new individual plans.

The US President also signed a letter to the United Nations indicating his intention to withdraw from the 2015 agreement. The withdrawal process from the Paris accord takes one year.

As per Trump's order, the Paris accord is among a number of international agreements that don't reflect US values and "steer American taxpayer dollars to countries that do not require, or merit, financial assistance in the interests of the American people".

The world reacts

His action has led to some calling the 'planned' US withdrawal 'unfortunate' and others reminding him of climate-driven disasters like the most-recent Los Angeles wildfires.

"Embracing (the global clean energy boom) will mean massive profits, millions of manufacturing jobs and clean air. Ignoring it only sends all that vast wealth to competitor economies, while climate disasters like droughts, wildfires and superstorms keep getting worse, destroying property and businesses, hitting nation-wide food production, and driving economy-wide price inflation. The door remains open to the Paris Agreement, and we welcome constructive engagement from any and all countries," said Simon Stiell, UN Climate Change executive secretary.

Laurence Tubiana, a key architect of the Paris accord, called the planned US withdrawal unfortunate but said action to slow climate change "is stronger than any single country's politics and policies". "The global context for Trump's action is 'very different to 2017'. The impacts of the climate crisis are also worsening. The terrible wildfires in Los Angeles are the latest reminder that Americans, like everyone else, are affected by worsening climate change," the CRO of the European Climate Foundation said.

According to a poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, about half of Americans 'somewhat' or 'strongly' oppose US action to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. Even Republicans aren't overwhelmingly in favour, it states. "Only about 2 in 10 US adults 'somewhat' or 'strongly' in favour of withdrawing from the Paris agreement, while about one-quarter are neutral," the poll reveals.

"The US should be leading the fight for a livable planet - not only because of its responsibility as the largest historical polluter, but because ignoring the problem at our doorstep will harm people living in the United States, who have recently suffered severe damage from climate-driven disasters like the Los Angeles wildfires and will face even more in the years ahead," said Abby Maxman, president & CEO of Oxfam America.

Gina McCarthy, who served as White House climate adviser under previous President Joe Biden, a Democrat, said that if Trump "truly wants America to lead the global economy, become energy independent and create good-paying American jobs," then he must "stay focused on growing our clean energy industry. Clean technologies are driving down energy costs for people all across our country".

The US is currently the world's second-biggest greenhouse gas emitter behind China and its departure undermines global ambition to slash those emissions. This time could also be more damaging to global climate efforts, said Paul Watkinson, a former climate negotiator and senior policy advisor for France.

"It will be harder this time because we are in the thick of implementation, up against real choices," he said.