It is astounding what Donald Trump gets away with by using a ball pen and some ink. But it came as no surprise that immediately on returning to office Trump signed an executive order and withdrew his country, once more, from the Paris climate change agreement. Many feared it would create an avalanche of countries following suit and maybe that is what the US president hoped for. If so, it doesn’t seem to have gone his way. In fact, the US withdrawal might be the best thing that could happen for the annual climate change negotiations. It officially removes from the talks a party that has been actively preventing progress on a pathway out of fossil fuel use and which has deployed delaying tactics, hindering the achievement of crucial milestones. The United States has always been influential, but not the most reliable or ambitious actor when it comes to fulfilling its climate finance promises or committing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Reactions to Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement have been mixed.
Paris without Trump: A win for the planet? (Melanie Pill, The Interpreter)
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