• Paris Climate Agreement
• US
• Withdrawal

SO MUCH ADO ABOUT TRUMP WITHDRAWAL FROM THE PARIS AGREEMENT

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  CapitalTimesNews / 3 months
• 0
• 3 min read

By AVM Kenneth Akugbe Iyamu (Rtd) President Donald Trump, on inauguration day, signed the Executive Order to withdraw from the Paris Agreement despite the US being the second biggest polluter in the world. It will be recalled that in 2015, about 200 countries came together in the first global effort to fight climate change. The three key areas of the Paris Agreement goals were; 1). Keeping global temperatures below pre-industrial times ( 1.5▪︎c). 2). Encourage countries to submit their National Determined Contributions every five years. 3). Climate Finance to vulnerable countries to fight climate change. What is very significant is that Donald Trump is returning to a world very different from his first term 2017 when he first pulled out with a 3 year wait and only one effective year before President Joe Biden brought the US back. Additionally, under the Inflation Reduction Act, the US has invested more than $369 billion in renewable energy sources mostly domiciled in Republican states and districts and pulling out of the Paris Agreement will be a loss of more than $80 billion to states and districts in America. While the withdrawal may be a bump on the concerted efforts of the world to fight climate change, there is already a great push back by more than 75% of states, districts and civil organisations on the so called withdrawal. While the bump may reduce America’s commitment to NDC and reduction in contributions to climate financing, the 75% of states, districts and civil organisations have doubled down on the ill-advised withdrawal and ready to close the gaps. Their driving force is that just because one person did not consider the global effect of climate change does not mean that the efforts will stop. I must say that the world has gone too far in renewable energy, unlike in 2017 when the withdrawal significantly reverberated across the Globe. While he remained in denials with climate change crisis, evidence at his doorstep; Los Angeles fire and the freezing weather, the world has decided to rise to the occasion by seeing climate change crisis as an existential threat and are maintaining the required momentum. His foray into threats to the sovereignty of other countries; Mexico, Canada, Panama Canal, and Greenland showed inconsistency and inadequate understanding of what the new world order is. As the world awaits the final actualisation of the withdrawal in 2026, Donald Trump is aware that the world terrain now has a different coloration than 2017 with many of his collaborators in Brazil, Mexico and the UK no longer on the scene. Will President Trump’s withdrawal of the second largest polluter succeed against current realities? The world waits with baited breath. For more conversation, follow me on Twitter @iyamuclimatech1 and Instagram iyamuclimatechange. You can send your views to iyamukenneth65@gmail.com or 07057447442( WhatsApp message only)