Worsening climate

Donald Trump’s scant regard for truth and diplomatic niceties was on display again as he stepped to the White House Rose Garden podium and declared the US was ditching the Paris climate change accord. Trump, who’s called climate change a “hoax,” repeatedly blasted India and China as two countries that supposedly walked away with all the benefits of the deal and none of the burdens. “India makes its participation contingent on receiving billions and billions and billions of dollars in foreign aid,” he railed falsely. (India’s assent to the accord, which included pledges to cut emission intensity, increase forest cover and sharply boost renewable energy, was not contingent on foreign aid.) The world according to Trump is a cruel place where everyone’s ganged up to ensure the US gets the worst of every treaty. The Trans-Pacific Partnership was one such pact he abrogated and he’s threatening to undo the 25-year-old NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement). But pulling out of the Paris Accord, though widely signalled, still sent shock waves around the world. The agreement was a hard-fought compromise between developed and developing nations which duelled down to the very last word. The overarching goal is to keep global temperature rises below 2 degrees Celsius by century-end. The battle waged by developing nations was to ensure developed nations, which had what was called “a historical responsibility” for climate change, should bear the greater emission-cutting burden.

China, the biggest greenhouse-gas emitter — the US is second and India is third — has already teamed up with the EU to jointly declare they would continue to aim for the agreement targets. Closer to the White House, Elon Musk is quitting the President’s advisory council and oil giants like Exxon have reiterated tackling climate change is vital. Support is also strong on Wall Street where Goldman Sachs’ CEO Lloyd Blankfein tweeted for the first time to slam Trump’s announcement.

Trump falsely claimed India “will be allowed to double its coal production by 2020” while, “we’re supposed to get rid of ours.” The agreement in fact makes no mention of coal – only that each country must meet its emissions target. India’s already well launched on its pledge to get 40 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030 and new coal-fired plants have been delayed as the capacity is not needed. But the US has left the world in the lurch by halting contributions to the Green Climate Fund for India and other developing nations to fight climate change with more efficient technologies. Beyond climate change, the US exit may speed a dramatic upending of the international order that’s held firm since World War II. China’s eager to play a pre-eminent part in world affairs. It looks like Donald Trump’s America is moving out of the way, leaving a void for China to wrest global leadership.

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