‘A Race to the Bottom’: US Officially Leaves Paris Climate Agreement

Experts warn that exiting the Paris climate Agreement will leave the US behind as the rest of the world embraces the energy transition wave.

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The US officially exited the Paris Agreement on Tuesday, a year after President Donald Trump first announced its withdrawal.

“I’m immediately withdrawing from the unfair, one-sided Paris climate accord rip-off,” Trump said as he signed the executive order on his first day back in office last January. “The United States will not sabotage our own industries while China pollutes with impunity.”

It is the second time the US – the world’s second-largest greenhouse gas emitter behind only China – has withdrawn from the agreement, and the only country to do so. Months after taking office for the first time in 2017, Trump signed an order to withdraw from the pact, a move President Joe Biden promptly reversed on his first day in office in 2021.

196 countries signed the Paris Agreement in 2015 in a bid to strengthen the global response to the growing threat of climate change. The deal set out a framework for limiting global warming to below 1.5C or “well below 2C” above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century. Beyond this limit, experts warn that critical tipping points will be breached, leading to devastating and potentially irreversible consequences for several vital Earth systems that sustain a hospitable planet.

‘Race to the Bottom’

Wopke Hoekstra, the European Union climate commissioner, said leaving the Paris Agreement is a “clear absence of leadership” that will have “significant negative impacts” on America’s reputation.

“What others will say is, ‘How on Earth is it possible that a country with this might, with this deep a purse, and with this direct responsibility for the planet heating up, basically checks out’?” Hoekstra said, according to The New York Times.

Marta Schaaf, Amnesty International’s Programme Director for Climate, ESJ and Corporate Accountability, said the US exit sets a “disturbing precedent” that could trigger a “race to the bottom” in climate standards.

“The US is one of several powerful anti-climate actors but as an influential superpower, this decision, along with acts of coercion and bullying of other countries and powerful actors to double down on fossil fuels, causes particular harm and threatens to reverse more than a decade of global climate progress under the agreement,” Schaaf said.

She added that the US still has legal obligations to protect its citizen from the rapidly worsening impacts of climate change, as set out by the International Court of Justice in its landmark advisory opinion last year. The world’s top court ruled that governments have a whole host of legal duties arising as a result of the climate crisis, including the duty to take “stringent” mitigation measures, act in line with fairness and scientific evidence, and regulate private actors.

US Increasingly Isolated

Since assuming office for his second term, Trump has taken sweeping actions to reverse America’s environmental agenda and withdraw from international commitments. These moves have fundamentally altered the nation’s role in the global fight against climate change, a crisis the president has dismissed as a “con job”.

Earlier this month, Trump ordered America’s withdrawal from 66 international bodies, conventions and treaties, including key climate treaties, that he says are “contrary to the interests” of the country.

The list comprises 66 organizations – 35 non-United Nations organizations and 31 United Nations organizations – many of which conduct pivotal work on climate change. These include the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s most authoritative scientific body on climate change, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the global authority providing technical and policy advice to drive conservation, and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UFCCC), the primary global treaty for coordinating international climate action.

While criticizing the move, experts believe the retreat will hurt America the most.

“Other nations understand the UNFCCC’s irreplaceable role in driving cooperation and advancing climate solutions the world urgently needs. When countries work together on climate, it saves lives, creates jobs, strengthens economic stability, and builds a more prosperous future,” said David Widawsky, Director of the World Resources Institute US.

More on the topic: One Year of Trump: How the US Reversed Climate Progress, at Home and Abroad

Energy Transition Is ‘Unstoppable’

Despite America’s retreat, the transition to clean energy is “unstoppable” as countries recognize the “colossal” benefits it presents, UN climate chief Simon Stiell said last year.

Reacting to Trump’s announcement that the US was leaving the Paris Agreement, Stiell said countries were “already stepping into their place to “reap the massive rewards” of transitioning to cleaner forms of energy, such as new jobs, reduced pollution and associated health costs, economic growth, and more affordable energy.

“A country may step back – but others are already stepping into their place to seize that opportunity.”

A report presented at COP30 last November found that countries’ climate pledges put us on track to cut emissions by 12% in the next 10 years. ⁠Without the Paris Agreement, we would be looking at an increase of emissions between 20-48% by 2035 compared to 2019 levels, the report also said.

More on the topic: Energy Transition: Where Are We Headed in 2026?

Featured image: The White House/Flickr.