President Trump signed an executive order directing the United States to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement.

“The United States Ambassador to the United Nations shall immediately submit formal written notification of the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,” the executive order read.

“The notice shall be submitted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Depositary of the Agreement, attached as Appendix A.  The United States will consider its withdrawal from the Agreement and any attendant obligations to be effective immediately upon this provision of notification,” it added.

“I’m immediately withdrawing from the unfair one-sided Paris Climate Accord ripoff. The United States will not sabotage our own industries while China pollutes with impunity,” Trump said.

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From the Associated Press:

Trump’s action, hours after he was sworn in to a second term, echoed his directive in 2017, when he announced that the U.S. would abandon the global Paris accord. The pact 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.

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Trump also signed a letter to the United Nations indicating his intention to withdraw from the 2015 agreement, which 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 U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60% by 2035.

Trump’s order says the Paris accord is among a number of international agreements that don’t reflect U.S. values and “steer American taxpayer dollars to countries that do not require, or merit, financial assistance in the interests of the American people.”

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Per Axios:

America’s withdrawal from Paris doesn’t take effect immediately, although the executive order notes the administration will treat it as such.

The executive order was written to be far-reaching, cutting off funding for the UN climate organization that oversees annual climate summits and facilitates activities under Paris and other climate agreements since 1992.

It would also squelch American contributions to international climate financing that would help countries adapt to climate impacts and boost clean energy production.

To become official, it takes one year after U.S. diplomats submit a document to the UN climate bureaucracy notifying them of an intent to withdraw (last time Trump withdrew, it took longer due to a feature in the then-young agreement’s provisions.)

There are outstanding questions of whether the Trump administration will continue to send some representatives to the annual climate summits, as it did during his first term, or skip entirely.

Read the full executive order HERE.

 

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