President Donald Trump withdrew the United States (US) from the Paris climate deal for the second time in a decade as he signed a series of executive actions hours after being sworn in on Monday.
The withdrawal of the world’s biggest historic emitter from global efforts to fight climate change will come into force officially after a year of giving a notice. It came days after the year 2024 was declared the warmest year on record and the first when the average global temperature broke the 1.5 °C threshold over the pre-industrial level.
The impact of climate change is being felt globally with a rise in disasters and extreme warming. In 2024, the ocean was the hottest it has ever been recorded at the surface temperature and for the upper 2,000 metres.
Experts said Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, a multilateral arrangement to keep global warming from reaching dangerous levels, sets a poor precedent for developing countries such as India. The goal of the agreement is to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and preferably to 1.5°C.
Climate activist and Satat Sampada Climate Foundation founding director Harjeet Singh said Trump’s decision is more than a moral failure. “…it is a direct threat to global solidarity, multilateral cooperation, and the fight for climate justice. By prioritising the expansion of oil and gas extraction, the United States—the largest historical carbon emitter and top fossil fuel producer—is hastening the march toward a climate catastrophe that will force vulnerable communities worldwide to bear the brunt of a crisis they did not create.”
He added the reckless move sends a dangerous signal to developing nations like India, which are demonstrating remarkable leadership with ambitious climate plans despite facing immense challenges. “India’s progress relies on fair and robust financial support—support that Trump’s actions have callously undermined.”
Former climate negotiator and diplomat Manjeev Singh Puri said the US is the largest and most capable economy and its pull out from the Paris Agreement does not bode well for the global efforts to tackle climate change. “…we need to note that the US is still a signatory to the UNFCCC [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change].”
Puri said he was sure US sub-national and corporate efforts at developing green technologies would move apace as a result of pro-innovation policies that the new administration may foster. “In so far as the UNFCCC, perhaps, an absent America is better than a disruptive America as has become the case with the WTO [World Trade Organization]. The problem this time, though, unlike in 2016, is seriously weakened European abilities to step up to the gap created by the US withdrawal.”
World Resources Institute’s US acting director Debbie Weyl said Trump is trying to turn back the clock on America’s clean energy leadership at the expense of its people and their health. “If realised, President Trump’s actions would sacrifice the United States’ competitiveness globally, raise energy prices for American families, and pollute our air. Pledging to roll back climate policies that have created more than 400,000 good paying American jobs will only hurt workers and our economy,” Weyl said in a statement.
Weyl said despite Trump’s attempts to shatter progress on climate change, a band of governors, mayors, and other leaders are committed to standing their ground and enacting low-carbon policies that cut costs, create jobs, and build cleaner communities. “The clean energy revolution will continue regardless of who is in the White House.”