United States President Donald Trump has reiterated that the country will withdraw from the Paris Agreement. The procedure will be initiated from November 2019.
United States President Donald Trump has announced that from 4 November 2019 the United States will begin proceedings to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, the international accord that aims to limit the growth of average global temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
The measure will begin to take effect the day after the 2020 presidential elections, assuming Trump is re-elected.
"The Paris Agreement only puts spokes in the wheels of American development with excessively rigid rules," President Trump declared during a conference dedicated to the topic of energy held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "We will not punish our citizens to allow other countries to pollute without being punished. As I always say: American interests come first."
Trump has promised to make the United States an energy superpower and is seeking to reduce the production costs of gas, oil and coal, removing every legislative obstacle in his path.
While Trump enjoys the support of fossil fuel lobbies, there is certainly no shortage of opposition. A large number of American states, led by California, along with various cities and numerous companies, have already declared that they will remain committed to the Paris Agreement, regardless of the president's views.
Initial estimates indicate that 65 per cent of the population is opposed to the path Trump wants to take and will resist his decisions. Together they make up 70 per cent of the American gross domestic product and represent a political force that the president will not be able to ignore forever.
As well as dealing with protests within his own country, Trump will also have to reckon with the international community, which is pushing ever harder towards a more sustainable energy transition.
In doing so, the United States is forfeiting the opportunity to establish itself as a global leader in the renewables sector, unlike other countries that have rightly seen it as an opportunity for economic growth.
On the one hand, "this decision weakens the perception of the US at a global level, ceding their leadership to states such as Russia and China," declared Neera Tanden of the American think tank Center for american progress.
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On the other hand, the United States is also setting a very poor example for countries that still base their energy supply on fossil fuels.
