Trump says he’s withdrawing the US from the Paris climate agreement again

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he will again withdraw the United States, a carbon polluter, from the landmark Paris climate agreement, dealing a blow to global efforts to combat global warming and once again alienating the United States from its closest allies. .

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The White House announcement, which came as Trump was sworn in on Monday for a second term, echoed Trump’s actions in 2017, when he announced that the United States would abandon the global Paris Agreement. The agreement aims to limit long-term global warming to 2.7 degrees F (1.5 degrees C) above pre-industrial levels, or, failing that, keep temperatures at least well below 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C). above pre-industrial levels.

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The 2015 Paris Agreement is voluntary and allows countries to submit targets for reducing their emissions of greenhouse gases from burning coal, oil and natural gas. These targets are set to become more stringent over time, with countries facing a February 2025 deadline to draw up new individual plans. Last month, the outgoing Biden administration presented a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States by more than 60% by 2035.

Lawrence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation and a key architect of the Paris Agreement, called the planned US withdrawal regrettable, but said action to slow climate change was “stronger than the politics and politics of any single country.”

Tubiana said the global context of Trump’s move “is very different from what happened in 2017,” adding that “there is unstoppable economic momentum behind the global transformation, from which the United States and its leaders have gained but now risk losing.”

The International Energy Agency expects the global market for key clean energy technologies to triple to more than $2 trillion by 2035, she said.

“The effects of the climate crisis are also worsening. The terrible wildfires in Los Angeles are the latest reminder that Americans, like everyone else, are being affected by worsening climate change,” Tubiana said.

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Gina McCarthy, who served as a White House climate adviser under Democratic President Joe Biden, said that if Trump, a Republican, “truly wants America to lead the global economy, become energy independent, and create good-paying American jobs,” then He has to do it. We must “continue to focus on growing our clean energy industry. Clean technologies are lowering energy costs for people across our country.

The world is now 2.3°F (1.3°C) higher than its mid-19th century temperatures. Most, but not all, climate monitoring agencies said global temperatures last year surpassed the 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit warming mark, and all said it was the warmest year on record.

The process of withdrawing from the Paris Agreement takes one year. Trump’s previous withdrawal took effect the day after the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Biden.

While the first Trump-led withdrawal from the landmark UN agreement — adopted by 196 countries — shocked and angered countries around the world, “no country followed the United States out the door,” said Alden Meyer, a longtime climate negotiations analyst at the United Nations. United Nations. European Research Center E3G.

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Instead, other countries have renewed their commitment to slowing climate change, along with investors, companies, governors, mayors and others in the United States, Mayer and other experts said.

However, they lamented that the United States has lost leadership in global efforts to slow climate change, even as the world is on track for another record hot year, swinging from drought to hurricanes to floods to wildfires.

“It is clear that America will not play the leadership role in helping solve the climate crisis, the greatest dilemma humans have ever faced,” climate activist and writer Bill McKibben said before officially announcing the withdrawal. “The best we can hope for over the next few years is that Washington will not be able to sabotage the efforts of others.”

Several years ago, China overtook the United States as the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide annually. The United States — the second-largest annual carbon polluter — put 4.9 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide into the air in 2023, down 11% from the previous decade, according to scientists tracking emissions for the Global Carbon Project.

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But carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for centuries, so the United States has used more of the heat-trapping gas now in the air than any other country. The United States is responsible for nearly 22% of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since 1950, according to the Global Carbon Project.

While global efforts to combat climate change continued during Trump’s first term, many experts worry that a second Trump term will be more damaging, with the United States withdrawing further from climate efforts in a way that could cripple the efforts of future presidents. With Trump, who has rejected climate change, taking charge of the world’s leading economy, these experts fear that other countries, especially China, will use it as an excuse to ease their efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

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AP’s climate and environment coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with charities, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas on AP.org.

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