Experts are watching for how other countries will react as the ‘real economy’ shifts to cheaper, cleaner energy
The United States has officially exited the Paris climate agreement for the second time, cementing Donald Trump’s renewed break with the primary global venue to address global heating.
The move leaves the US as the only country to have withdrawn from the pact, placing it alongside Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only countries not party to the agreement. While it will not halt global climate efforts, experts say it could significantly complicate them.
First announced on his first day back as president last January in a stadium in front of supporters, the US’s departure comes as the Trump administration has launched a sweeping assault on domestic climate policy. This month, it also announced it will leave the UN framework convention on climate change, under which the Paris treaty was adopted. Together, the moves amount to a wholesale withdrawal from climate governance.
“It’s almost like they’re saying, we don’t care what you want from us, we will be the bad guys, and you cannot challenge us on it, because that’s exactly what we said you should expect from us,” said Basav Sen, climate justice project director at the progressive thinktank Institute for Policy Studies.
