On 1 June, 2017, President Trump made a statement that the United States would officially be pulling out of the Paris Climate Accords. Fulfilling one of his original campaign promises, withdrawing from the Accords would be a significant success for the Trump administration.
Although revered by many high level authority figures and expected to be beneficial to all those involved, President Trump’s belief is that the Paris Agreement “disadvantages the United States to the exclusive benefit of other countries, leaving American workers… to absorb the cost in terms of lost jobs, lower wages, shuttered factories, and vastly diminished economic production.”
Having spoken many times about his support for non-renewable energy productions such as coal, as perceived by one of his slogans, ‘Trump Digs Coal’, it is no surprise that he should stand against the Paris Climate Accords.
His plan has always been to make America a superpower in terms of energy production. His belief that the Accords hinders his ability to do so and negatively affects the American workers and the US economy is essentially a few of the many reasons why he thinks that withdrawing American involvement from the Accords is the best thing for the United States.
Throughout his term as President, Trump’s views towards environmental conservation have been very clear. Under his administration, the United States has fallen back on terms of environmental strategy and have lessened regulations on the use of gas, oil, and coal, treating them as Trump regards effective and as an economically advantageous method of energy production.
Along with his decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords, Trump has also refused to contribute to the Green Climate Fund. Although promised $3bn by the United States of America under the administration of former President Barack Obama, last year Trump reneged on this promise and withheld $2bn of the originally promised $3bn.
His refusal to contribute to the fund caused a case of what is now known globally as “The Trump Effect”, where other countries such as Russia and Australia also refused to contribute to the fund, causing the fund to fall short.
Nevertheless, President Trump’s priorities have been distinct. Throughout his presidency, he has evidently kept those priorities in check; the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords being one of many.
Now that he has stated that the US will be pulling out, the next step will commence on 4 November of this year: the earliest he can put into the United Nations to officially withdraw due to the structure of the Paris Agreement.
After the formal process begins, it will take up to one year for the change to come into effect, consequently falling on the day after the 2020 United States Presidential Elections.
The result of the presidential race, and whether or not President Trump is reelected, will also decide the future of the Paris Climate Accords and the part that the United States may or may not play within it in the years to come.
The United States’ abdication as one of the forefront established leaders within the Accords will leave room open for other superpowers such as China or Russia to take leadership.
However, there is a leading consensus that without contribution from the United States, the Paris Climate Accords will not be able to reach the goals it first intended. The progress which we have taken as a species to combat the ever-pressing issues of global warming and climate change will take a substantial and devastating hit without US involvement.
Image: via thedailyoutsider.com