Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement again

President Donald Trump said on Monday he would once again withdraw the United States from the landmark Paris climate accord, dealing with the crisis global efforts fight global warming and further distance the US from its closest allies.

The announcement, which came in a day Mr. Trump has been sworn into office second term, emphasized Trump’s actions in 2017when he announced that the US would leave the global Paris agreement. President Biden later he joined again.

As he signed a a series of super actions After his ordination, Mr. Trump said, “I am immediately withdrawing from the unilateral and unjust Paris Climate Accords.” He also signed a letter informing the UN of his decision.

It takes a full year to formally withdraw from the agreement, so while Mr. After Trump announced his intentions, we will not start working until Jan. 20, 2026.

The agreement is intended reduce long-term global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial levels or, failing that, to maintain temperatures at least 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial levels. The US is one of the best countries in the world carbon pollution tribes.

The 2015 Paris Agreement is voluntary and allows countries to provide targets to cut their greenhouse gas emissions from burning coal, oil and natural gas. Those goals should become more robust over time, as countries face a February 2025 deadline for new individual plans.

Outgoing Biden administration last month provided a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the US more than 60% by 2035.

Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation and a key architect of the Paris agreement, called the planned US withdrawal unfortunate but said action to reduce climate change “is stronger than the politics and policies of one country.”

The global context of Trump’s action is “very different from 2017,” said Tubiana, adding that “there is an unstoppable economic momentum behind the global revolution, which the US has gained and led but is now at risk of losing.”

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

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

Dr. Rachel Cleetus, policy director and lead economist for the Climate and Energy Program at UCS, called the withdrawal a “trick.”

“Such a move is clearly contrary to the scientific facts and shows an administration that does not care about the serious effects of climate change that people in the United States and around the world face. To withdraw from the Paris Agreement is a breach of responsibility and undermines the global action that is needed by people at home and abroad,” he said in a statement.

Gina McCarthy, who was a White House climate adviser under President Joe Biden, a Democrat, said that if Trump, a Republican, “really wants America to lead the world economy, become more independent and create good-paying American jobs,” she said. we must “remain focused on growing our clean energy industry. Clean technology lowers electricity costs for people across the country.”

The world is now 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.3 degrees Celsius) above average temperatures of the mid-1800s. Most but not all climate organizations said global temperatures last year exceeded 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, and all said it was the warmest year on record.

Despite significant reductions in the next few years, the world is on track to see temperatures rise by more than 3 degrees Celsius, according to an October UN report, which warned such an outcome “could bring debilitating impacts on people, the planet and the economy.” .”

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

While the first withdrawal led by Trump from the landmark UN agreement – accepted by 196 countries – countries shocked and angered the whole world, “not a single country followed the US,” said Alden Meyer, a long-time climate analyst at the European think tank E3G.

Instead, other nations have renewed their commitment to reducing climate change, as well as investors, businesses, governors, mayors and others in the US, Meyer and other experts said.

Still, they lament the loss of American leadership in global efforts to reduce climate change, as the world is poised to record another hot year and has been reeling from droughts to hurricanes to floods to wildfires.

“It’s clear that America is not going to play a major role in helping to solve the climate crisis, the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced,” said climate activist and author Bill McKibben. “In the next few years the best we can hope for is that Washington will not be able to undermine the efforts of others.”

Nearly half of Americans “somewhat” or “strongly” oppose the US move to withdraw from the climate agreement, and Republicans strongly disagree, according to a poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Only about 2 in 10 US adults “somewhat” or “strongly” agree with withdrawing from the Paris accord, while nearly one in four are neutral.

Much of the opposition to the US withdrawal comes from Democrats, but Republicans are showing mixed feelings. Slightly less than half of Republicans favor withdrawing from the climate accord, and nearly 2 in 10 are opposed.

China overtook the United States a few years ago as the world’s largest carbon emitter. The US – the second largest annual carbon polluter – will put 4.9 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by 2023, down 11% from a decade ago, according to scientists who track emissions from the Global Carbon Project.

But carbon dioxide it stays in the atmosphere for hundreds of years, so the United States has put more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere now than any other nation. The US is responsible for about 22% of the carbon dioxide put into the atmosphere since 1950, according to the Global Carbon Project.

Although global efforts to combat climate change continue under Trump, many experts worry that Trump’s second term will be even more dangerous, as the United States withdraws from climate efforts in a way that could cripple the efforts of future presidents. With Trump, who has dismissed climate change, in charge of the world’s leading economy, those experts fear other countries, especially China, could use it as an excuse to relax their efforts to curb carbon emissions.

Simon Stiell, the UN’s climate change secretary, said he hopes the US will continue to embrace the rise of clean energy around the world.

“Ignoring it sends all that wealth into our competing economies, and climate disasters like drought, wildfires and hurricanes keep getting worse,” Stiell said. “The door is still open for the Paris Agreement, and we welcome constructive engagement from any countries.”

Tracy J. Wholf contributed to this report.