Trump to withdraw from Paris climate agreement, White House says

One of the main reasons that countries are not legally required to actually meet the emissions reduction pledges they put forward under the Paris Agreement is because the Obama administration indicated that with the increased political polarization around climate change over the two decades following the Rio Earth Summit, obtaining 67 votes in support of the agreement in the U.S. Senate would have been challenging,

said veteran climate analyst Alden Meyer of the European think-tank E3G

Formally, there is no agreement on how much the U.S. should provide. However, our work on Fair Shares – based on U.S. historical emissions and ability to pay - finds that the U.S. contribution should be $44.6 billion per year,

Mercy Corps climate lead Debbie Hillier said in an email

The countries themselves” decide what it's in those goals with no punishment for countries missing goals

Depledge said

Xu Liang (footballer)chinese footballer

First, the internal fight between different groups advocating for clean energy and those supporting traditional energy may intensify. Second, it could push the US into a backward position in industries such as new energy vehicles, especially at a time when clean energy is the trend in global development,

Xu said

Sunita Narainindian environmentalist

What Trump has done is a complete denial of the emergency of climate change. It’s not just an executive order to withdraw from Paris Agreement, it’s a reversal of all decisions that were taken to tackle climate change,

said Sunita Narain, director general, Centre for Science and Environment

Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement is more than a moral failure — it is a direct threat to global solidarity, multilateral cooperation, and the fight for climate justice,

said Harjeet Singh, Climate Activist and Founding Director of Satat Sampada Climate Foundation

Arunabha Ghoshdr

Climate risks are now macroeconomic risks — and climate policy is now industrial policy. Meaningful collaboration opportunities still exist on adaptation, resilience and insurance against climate shocks on one hand, and development and diversification of clean tech development, manufacturing and supply chains, on the other,

added Ghosh

It will be key to observe how Europe and rest of rich world behaves,

added Narain

This reckless move sends a dangerous signal to developing nations like India, which are demonstrating remarkable leadership with ambitious climate plans despite facing immense challenges. India’s progress relies on fair and robust financial support — support that Trump’s actions have callously undermined,

he added

America will be a manufacturing nation once again, and we have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have, the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we are going to use it,

Trump said in his inauguration speech at the US Capitol on Monday

Reversing the momentum of clean energy in the US and globally will not be easy,

said Nikos Mantzaris, founder of The Green Tank, an energy think tank in Athens

For sure [the US] is trying to displace Russia in the global market,

said Mathioulakis

The investments that have already been made in fossil gas in the US will ensure that US gas production and exports will roughly double over the next five years,

said Michalis Mathioulakis, the academic director of the think tank Greek Energy Forum in Thessaloniki

Wherever we had a rapid development of renewable energy sources, when these reached more than 40 percent of the energy mix, there were problems – namely that we can’t expand on clean energy use without developing electricity storage and flexible grids,

Mathioulakis said

The science has actually been weaponised, and again that is reflective of the politics,

he told an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

Laurence Tubianafrench economist

The US withdrawing from the Paris Agreement is unfortunate, but multilateral climate action has proven resilient and is stronger than any single country's politics and policies,

said Laurence Tubiana, a key architect of the accord

The US oil and natural gas industry stands ready to work with the new administration to deliver the common sense energy solutions Americans voted for,

said Mike Sommers, of the American Petroleum Institute

Climate change is a common challenge faced by all of humanity, and no country can remain unaffected or solve the problem on its own,

foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said

China will work with all parties...to actively address the challenges of climate change,

he added

There is no energy emergency. There is a climate emergency."

But Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, pushed back