The US on Monday formally notified the UN that it was withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, making the world’s largest economy the sole outlier from the agreement.
US President Donald Trump went ahead with the pullout despite mounting evidence of the reality and impact of climate change, with September the fourth month in the row with near or record-breaking temperatures.
The US presented its withdrawal letter to the UN on the first possible date under the accord negotiated by then-US president Barack Obama.
It will be officially out of the Paris accord on Nov. 4 next year, one day after the election in which Trump is seeking a second term on appeals to the white working-class.
Announcing the move, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reiterated Trump’s rationale in 2017 that the accord would disadvantage US businesses.
“It was America that would suffer the straitjacket,” Pompeo told the Fox Business network. “It would be quintessentially unfair to the American people and to the American workers.”
Pompeo said in a statement that the US would advocate a “realistic and pragmatic model” that included renewal energy, but preserved a role for fossil fuels.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who unsuccessfully tried to persuade Trump to stay in the accord named for his nation’s capital, lamented the decision.
“We regret this and it makes the Franco-Chinese partnership on climate and biodiversity even more necessary,” the French presidency said as Macron visited China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases blamed for climate change.
The US, the No. 2 emitter, is still planning to attend this month’s COP climate negotiations in Spain, a US Department of State official said.
Pompeo in his statement pointed to a 13 percent US reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 to 2017 even as the economy grew.
However, Trump has pledged to turn back environmental regulations as states such as California and New York try to take stronger action on their own.
Trump has sought to block California from setting tighter standards on car emissions and moved to let states set their own standards on existing coal-fired power plants.
US Senator Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that the Trump administration has “once again thumbed its nose at our allies, turned a blind eye to the facts and further politicized the world’s greatest environmental challenge.”
Former US vice president Al Gore deplored Trump’s decision — but said that a new president could re-enter the Paris accord within 30 days.
“No one person or party can stop our momentum to solve the climate crisis, but those who try will be remembered for their complacency, complicity and mendacity in attempting to sacrifice the planet for their greed,” Gore said.
Contrary to some predictions, Trump’s decision did not trigger a domino effect of withdrawals by countries such as Brazil and Australia.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, an ideological ally of Trump, has belittled environmentalists, but has held off on threats to withdraw from the Paris accord, with the EU requiring adherence as a condition for a major trade deal.
Trump has cast the climate accord as elitist, saying when announcing his decision that he was “elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.”
However, a Washington Post poll last month found that even in his own party he faces growing opposition on the issue, with 60 percent of Republicans agreeing with the scientific consensus that human activity is causing climate change.
Former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, who has used his fortune to push for action on climate change, vowed to put the issue front and center in next year’s election.
“Until then, we will continue to fight the climate crisis with the urgency required, city by city and state by state. We can’t afford to wait,” he said.
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