Trump quits Paris Agreement in ‘aggressive agenda to undo U.S. climate policy’                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Newly appointed U.S. President, Donald Trump, ordered the USA to withdraw once again from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement on Monday -  instantly isolating the country from the global campaign to stem climate change.

Taking ‘immediate effect’, the executive order seemingly ignores the one year notice period and, it’s speculated, could mark the launch of an ‘aggressive agenda’ to roll back U.S. climate policy during what could be considered a particularly turbulent time for climate change action.

Of course, the impact of this is yet to be seen. However, without U.S. involvement, it’s very possible that the world will fall behind the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

What’s more, it’s possible that the U.S. withdrawal could trigger other countries to follow suit, which would further unravel and endanger the Agreement.

With this comes Trump’s declaration of a ‘national energy emergency’ for the USA and seeming desire to drill for oil, despite a united global effort to move further towards clean and renewable energy sources; for example, effective neighbours to the U.S., South American country Brazil is considered to be a ‘world leader’ in renewable energy job creation, with a goal of 50% of its energy coming from renewable sources by 2030, and Chile has some of the world's best wind and solar resources.

It's also important to note that, without the U.S., the largest country that’s currently part of the Paris Agreement is China; the U.S. leaving the Agreement could therefore give China and other competitors an advantage in the clean energy ‘race’.

Certainly, the withdrawal has divided opinion across the world, with critisers emphasising the negative impact this could have on the ultimate goal and the poor example the U.S. is setting for other countries involved in the agreement, and arguing that his moves are justified because the rest of the world has not done its part, whilst also claim that the Paris withdrawal frees the new government to reverse Biden’s clean energy tax breaks and other climate policies.

it’s hard to know what impact the U.S. withdrawal will truly have on the Paris Agreement and, indeed, its goals; only time will tell. But it doesn’t set a good example for the rest of the world, or show the U.S. as united in global efforts to reverse climate change and move to a clean energy future.

In reality, this move serves to separate the U.S. from global intentions.