United States President Donald Trump announced yesterday the US’ withdrawal from the 2015 Paris Agreement, the landmark international treaty aiming to limit the rise of global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The order, among the first in Trump’s second term, will take up to a year to take effect. It comes just weeks after 2024 was declared the hottest year on record globally due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere mainly caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Last year was also the first to see average global temperatures exceed 1.5 degrees above preindustrial levels.
Trump previously withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement during his first term, and rolled back over 100 domestic environmental protection rules. Yesterday he announced he would declare a national energy emergency and increase oil and gas production in the United States. Any such ramp-up would be inconsistent with global scientific consensus that for countries to meet Paris Agreement goals there cannot be new fossil fuel projects.
The burning of fossil fuels drives global climate breakdown affecting millions of people around the world and fence-line communities have long borne the brunt of the impacts of fossil fuel production. Last year, Human Rights Watch documented the devastating toll of the fossil fuel and petrochemical industry’s environmental pollution in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley.” Residents there face elevated rates and risks of maternal, reproductive, and newborn health harms, cancer, and respiratory ailments. These harms are disproportionately borne by the area’s Black residents.
To fulfill their human rights obligation to address climate change, all governments should phase out fossil fuels, ensure an equitable transition to renewable energy, and help people adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis.
President Trump may also pull the United States out of the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change, which serves as the basis for global climate talks. Doing so would effectively exclude the US government from participating in climate negotiations at a time when all countries should be working together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis.
Now more than ever, countries should demonstrate climate leadership domestically and globally. The nearly 200 countries that have ratified the Paris Agreement should re-emphasize their commitment to the treaty’s goals and fully engage in global climate talks. They should demonstrate national progress in reducing their emissions and upholding human rights.
