The decision of the US to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord proves that the Trump administration is in total contradiction with reality and with the rest of the world. The Accord ratified by 147 out of 197 signatories entered into force with unprecedented speed, having shown that countries are resolved to go ahead in tackling climate change.
Not a single country supported Trump in his urge to withdraw the US from the international climate agreement. In their statements the heads of France, Canada, Australia, Germany, the UK, China, Brazil, Mexico, Japan and Norway as well as the UN FCCC and many others have already condemned Trump’s position. The G7 statement says, “Heads of state and government of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK as well as Presidents of the Council of Europe and European Commission confirm their unflinching commitment to quick implementation of the Paris Climate Accord.” Russia also confirmed her intention to stay in the agreement. The list of the countries not supporting the Paris Climate Accord contains only three states: USA, Syria and Nicaragua.
A nameless group in the USA including 30 mayors, three governors, over 80 university presidents and more than 100 enterprises holds negotiations with the United Nations to make their liabilities concerning climate treated equally with the contributions of other states to the Paris Climate Accord. Mayor of New York stated, “…we will take matters into our own hands. I am planning to sign an executive order confirming the commitment of New York to the Paris Climate Accord.”
Also Elon Musk stepped down as advisor after Trump’s statement.
Unfortunately, the American people are the first to suffer from this decision of US President. This action totally contradicts with their best interests: health, security, food and workplaces. Forgoing the climatic action the Trump administration burdens the Americans with price increase, environmental pollution risks and lost opportunities in the development of low-carbon economy. According to the surveys 71 per cent of US citizens supported staying in the Paris Climate Accord.
This decision of the US government leads to losing an opportunity to benefit from the revolution in renewable energy sources (RES) technology. Research and innovations in the field of green energy will be moved to Europe, China, India and other countries. The United States will lose the opportunity to create millions of workplaces in the field of RES. According to the latest IRENA data 9.8 million people worldwide are employed in RES industry and 777.000 of them are in the US. Last year one out of every 50 new workplaces in the US was in solar industry. In 2016 over 290 billion US dollars were invested in the renewable energy sources.
“It was all show and all speculation about money is either inability to understand financial mechanisms or sleight-of-hand. The fact itself is, of course, pitiful, because many mislead people will decide that if Trump said so, then maybe there is no man-made climate change at all. People will believe what it is more convenient for them to believe. It should be said that in his speech Trump did not oppose, and even confirmed the fact that the climate change is man-made and is an important issue. He withdraws from the Paris Climate Accord not because there is no climate change, but because the Accord allegedly does not meet interests of the US and he would like to conclude a new agreement. He did not say that there is no need in such agreement.” – said Alexey Kokorin, head of the “Climate and Energy” program, WWF, Russia.
“Slowdown of the struggle against climate change connected with Trump’s decision will primarily hurt countries most vulnerable to climatic cataclysms. They will suffer more from the climate change, but there will be less money in the fund that must assist them to adapt. American economy will lose opportunities connected with the development of RES technologies. For that part of the Russian establishment lobbying interests of oil and gas industry Trump’s example may become an argument against proponents of the “green development” of Russia” – said Vladimir Chuprov, head of the Greenpeace Energy program in Russia.
“What happened today should remind voters in the US and throughout the world: criminal actions are done with our connivance and the fact that Trump can take such decisions destroying the fortunes of the future generations is the direct responsibility of Americans who preferred to observe the elections from Facebook, but not ballot station” – says Anastasia Bekish, co-coordinator of CAN EECCA network, Belarus.
“Personal opinion of Donald Trump does not affect research results presented by the IPCC proving that the global climate change is a reality and anthropogenic activity significantly contributes to it. Not believing it after all presented results is, mildly speaking, naïve. Therefore, despite all importance of the US position for the international climate policy, each country of our region has its national decisions and plans in this sphere, which should be implemented and which do not depend on what goes on in another country” – says Maria Falaleeva, vice chairman of the central council of the “Ekoproekt” International Public Organization, Belarus.
“The United States, drawing on the will of a huge number of its citizens, was among the initiators of the Paris Climate Accord. We express our solidarity with those strata of the American society, which, by using the democratic system of checks and balances, will bring the USA back into the list of countries abiding by the Paris Climate Accord. Common sense will prevail!” – expressed his opinion the co-chairman of the all-Russian organization “Social-Environmental Union” Sergey Shapkhaev, Russia.
“It will change nothing in the USA. People and business made their choice on a way toward sustainable development. Trump’s decision was not based on an insufficient understanding of science in the field of climate change. He is not honest with anybody in his belief in the climate change” – said Aitakin Asgarova, the NGO Alliance on climate change and sustainable development, Azerbaijan.
“The Climatic Secretariat of the Russian Social-Environmental Union was sad to hear about the decision of US President Donald Trump to withdraw the US from the Paris Climate Accord” – says Olga Senova, head of the RSEU Climate Secretariat. “Though the Accord is so far rather weak lacking vitally important provisions for the prevention of catastrophic consequences of climate change, today this is the only international platform of global significance for joint climatic actions with which one can work. The Paris Climate Accord can be further developed and filled with valuable content. The US position will obviously affect the process of international cooperation slowing down implementation of measures to fight climate change throughout the globe. It is specifically regretful that the achievements of some states of the USA in the field of RES technology development lose the priority in the national policy as a result of the current decision and reduce attraction on the global market as an example of successful national achievements. In such situation extremely important are the climatic actions at the local, municipal and regional levels, such as initiatives like the “Covenant of Mayors on Climate and Energy” (according to which cities and small settlements commit themselves to reduce their emissions) and the creation of municipal and regional climatic plans and strategies.”