Donald Trump inauguration: In a controversial move marking his return to the presidency, Donald Trump has announced the United States will once again withdraw from the landmark Paris climate agreement. Trump announced it on Monday during his inauguration for the second term. It is being seen as a big blow to global efforts aimed at combating climate change and it also distances the US from its key international allies. This also echoes Trump’s 2017 withdrawal from the accord during his first term, a decision that sparked widespread criticism and concerns about America’s role in addressing the climate crisis.
Meanwhile, Trump has justified the withdrawal, claiming the pact imposes unfair economic burdens on the United States while other nations benefit disproportionately. However, environmental advocates and world leaders have expressed dismay, warning that the US exit undermines coordinated global action and sets back critical progress in addressing the planet’s escalating climate challenges. The withdrawal process from the Paris Accord takes one year. Trump's previous withdrawal took effect the day after the 2020 presidential election, which he had lost to Joe Biden.
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 slow climate change “is stronger than any single country's politics and policies. "The global context for Trump's action is very different to 2017... There is unstoppable economic momentum behind the global transition, which the US has gained from and led but now risks forfeiting," Tubiana added. The International Energy Agency expects the global market for key clean energy technologies to triple to more than $2 trillion by 2035, she said.
What is Paris Climate Agreement?
It should be noted here that the Paris Climate Agreement is aimed at limiting long-term global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial levels or, failing that, keeping temperatures at least well below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial levels.
The 2015 Paris Agreement is voluntary and allows nations to provide targets to cut their own emissions of greenhouse gases from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas. Those targets are supposed to become more stringent over time, with countries facing a February 2025 deadline for new individual plans. The outgoing Biden administration last month offered a plan to cut US greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60 per cent by 2035.
Trump pardons January 6 rioters
President Donald Trump also announced to pardon around 1,500 of his supporters who have been charged in the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack, using his sweeping clemency powers on his first day back in office to dismantle the largest investigation and prosecution in Justice Department history. The pardons were expected after Trump's yearslong campaign to rewrite the history of the January 6 attack that left more than 100 police officers injured and threatened the peaceful transfer of power.
(With AP inputs)