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US President Donald Trump has said he will withdraw the US from the historic Paris climate agreement, dealing a blow to worldwide efforts to slow global warming following the hottest year on record.
The decision was announced on Monday among a flurry of pro-fossil fuel policies after Trump took the oath of office with a promise to “drill, baby, drill” in pursuit of what he called “American energy dominance”.
“The president will unleash American energy by ending Biden’s policies of climate extremism,” the White House said.
The US’s exit from the 2015 Paris accord, which was signed by almost 200 countries, means the world’s largest historical polluter will again walk away from its commitment to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Rachel Cleetus, policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the US withdrawal was “a travesty” and “in clear defiance of scientific realities”.
The incoming administration also said it would declare an “energy emergency” as it touted measures to cut regulations on oil and gas companies and curb the build out of clean energy.
Trump said: “We will bring prices down, fill our strategic reserves up again, right to the top, and export American energy all over the world. We will be a rich nation again — and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it.”
Trump has indicated he will scrap the role of national climate adviser, introduced by Biden, and replace it with an “energy tsar” tasked with slashing red tape for oil and gas producers. The role will be filled by former North Dakota governor Doug Burgum.
Last year was the first calendar year that average temperatures surpassed the 2015 Paris accord target of limiting warming since pre-industrial times to well under 2C and preferably to 1.5C.
The world is on track for a temperature rise of up to 2.9C above pre-industrial levels, according to a UN report.
The US is the only country to have left the Paris agreement — under the first Trump administration in 2017, in a process that took more than two years. But it rejoined under Biden in February 2021. Jair Bolsonaro, the former president of Brazil, also threatened to pull out, but did not follow through.
The head of the UN climate change arm which oversees the Paris agreement, Simon Stiell, said on Monday: “The door remains open . . . and we welcome constructive engagement from all countries.”
The White House on Monday said it would also take steps to “end leasing to massive wind farms” which it said “degrade our natural landscapes and fail to serve American energy consumers”.
Laurence Tubiana, a key architect of the Paris agreement, said the US decision to quit was “unfortunate” but the accord was “stronger than any single country’s politics and policies”.
Some experts said Trump’s moves to reverse Biden’s “green” policies would give an advantage to China, which is the world’s largest manufacturer of electric vehicles, solar panels, and batteries.
“China will be happy to wave in the rear-view mirror of one of its world-leading EVs, as US manufacturers hobble on,” said Tim Sahay, co-director of the net zero industrial policy lab of Johns Hopkins University.
The Biden administration raised the bar on US climate targets in its final month in office, setting a goal for a cut of economy-wide greenhouse gases of 61 per cent to 66 per cent by 2035 from 2005 levels.
At the last UN climate summit in Baku, Biden’s top climate adviser John Podesta conceded US efforts to tackle global warming “may be put on the back burner” under Trump’s White House, but sought to reassure US allies that this would not stop the shift to green energy and technology by business, states, cities, and local authorities.
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