US Elections: Trump Criticizes Paris Agreement Global Climate Agreement

President Donald Trump criticized the Paris climate accord on Sunday, telling world leaders at a virtual summit that the accord was designed to cripple the United States economy, not to save the planet.

“To protect American workers, I withdrew the United States from the unjust and unilateral Paris climate accord, a very unfair act for the United States,” Trump said in a White House video statement to the organized Group of 20 summit. for Saudi Arabia.

His comments came during a discussion among the world’s largest economies about protecting the Earth.

President-elect Joe Biden, who will take office in January, has said he will join the global compact that the United States helped forge five years ago.

Trump maintained that the international agreement “was not designed to save the environment. It was designed to kill the American economy.”

Trump, who has worked to undo most of President Barack Obama’s efforts to combat climate change, said that since withdrawing from the climate agreement, the United States has cut carbon emissions more than any other nation.

That’s true, but not that remarkable. With its giant economy, the United States has far more gross emissions of climate-damaging carbon dioxide to reduce than any other country except China.

A more telling measure of progress in various countries is to look at what percentage of emissions a country has reduced. Since 2005, the United States has not even been in the top ten for percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

More than 180 countries have ratified the agreement, which aims to keep the rise in average temperatures around the world “well below” 2 ° C and ideally no more than 1.5 ° C, compared to pre-industrial levels. .

Scientists say that any rise beyond 2 ° C could have a devastating impact on much of the world, raising sea levels, stoking tropical storms and worsening droughts and floods.

The United States formally exited the Paris pact on November 4. On Saturday, the United States formally abandoned the Open Skies Treaty, which allows more than 30 nations to conduct unarmed observation flights over each other’s territory. Those overflights were established decades ago to promote trust and avoid conflict.

The administration said it wanted to exit the treaty because Russia was violating the pact, and images collected during the flights can be quickly obtained at lower cost from US or commercial satellites.

During discussions at the climate session, President Xi Jinping of China, the world’s largest emitter, said that the G-20 should continue to take the lead in fighting climate change and push for the full implementation of the Paris agreement.

“Not long ago, I announced China’s initiative to increase its nationally determined contributions and strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060,” he said. “China will honor its commitment and carry out the implementation.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that “climate change should be fought not in silos, but in an integrated, comprehensive and holistic way.” -AP