‘Abdication’: Trump formally takes US out of Paris climate agreement for a second time | Trump administration

The United States has officially left the Paris climate agreement for the second time, cementing Donald Trump’s renewed break with the world’s leading venue for the fight against global warming.

The move leaves the United States as the only country to have withdrawn from the deal, placing it alongside Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only countries not party to the deal. While this won’t stop global climate efforts, experts say it could significantly complicate them.

First announced on his first day back as president last January in a stadium in front of fans, the U.S. departure comes as the Trump administration has launched a sweeping attack on the nation’s climate policy. This month, he also announced he would leave the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, under which the Paris Treaty was adopted. Together, these measures amount to a complete withdrawal from climate governance.

“It’s almost as if they’re saying: We don’t care what you expect from us, we’ll be the bad guys, and you can’t challenge us, because that’s exactly what we said you should expect from us,” said Basav Sen, director of the climate justice project at the progressive think tank Institute for Policy Studies.

The U.S. withdrawal from climate action has not halted all global efforts to reduce emissions. Investments in low-carbon energy far exceed spending on fossil fuels. Renewable energy sources accounted for more than 90% of new electricity generation capacity last year and, in much of the world, are now the cheapest source of new electricity.

China is increasingly shaping the green transition. Although it remains the world’s largest consumer of coal, its emissions appear to have peaked last year. This month, the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD has overtaken Tesla in electric vehicle sales, while Chinese companies now produce more than 80% of the world’s solar panels and around 70% of wind turbines, giving them dominant control over clean energy supply chains.

Trump’s policies risk pushing the United States to the sidelines of the global climate effort — and slowing momentum elsewhere, experts say.

“Yes, the real economy is moving in the direction of renewable energy, clean energy, etc., but the global regime still has a role to play in terms of sending policy signals and stimulating the real economy,” said Sue Biniaz, former deputy climate envoy under Joe Biden. “Now this ambition will be delayed. »

In September, for example, China pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 7 to 10 percent within ten years. Experts have widely criticized this commitment, deeming it insufficient.

“The U.S. abdication on climate gives fossil fuel advocates in China more voice to slow the energy transition,” said Jeremy Wallace, professor of China studies at Johns Hopkins University. “A pro-climate president in the White House would push China to be more ambitious. »

Other countries could also use the United States’ lack of climate ambition to justify their own, Biniaz said.

“I think other countries are taking into account the fact that the United States is deviating from the international climate regime and using that as a reason to do less,” she said.

Some countries could also follow the departure of the United States from Paris: Israel would consider such a decision.

Yet U.S. disengagement is also prompting some countries to take bolder climate action, Sen said. During last year’s Cop30 negotiations in Brazil, Colombia and the Netherlands announced plans to host the first-ever international discussions focused on phasing out fossil fuels, alongside Pacific island nations.

“I have to believe that the reactionary position of the United States has prompted these countries to step up their efforts,” he said.

Still, any increase in emissions caused by Trump’s fossil fuel expansion will be felt around the world, making the Paris goals harder to achieve even for the most ambitious countries, Sen warned.

“If the U.S. domestic market continues to be dominated by fossil fuels through an authoritarian government, it will continue to impact the rest of the world,” he said, especially as the administration ramps up production to meet the growing demand for energy from artificial intelligence data centers.

By leaving Paris, the United States, which is the world’s richest country, also withdrew from global efforts to help poorer countries transition away from fossil fuels, Sen said, making climate finance goals even more unattainable.

“It will be even more difficult for low-income countries, which are very dependent on fossil fuel production and exports, to be able to transition when the United States says we will not finance any of this,” he said.

The withdrawal also reinforces the perception of the United States as an unreliable partner in global politics, experts say.

“I’m not sure the United States has any more credibility to lose in the eyes of the world, but withdrawing from Paris a second time won’t help,” Wallace said.

Trump’s formal withdrawal from the Paris agreement comes as the planet experiences record heat, worsening disasters and growing economic losses linked to the climate crisis, Biniaz noted.

“Every scientific report tells us that things are worse than we previously thought and that additional action needs to be taken,” she said. “Now is not the time to walk away from the key agreement that addresses this issue.”