Editorial 23rd January 2025

Editorial 23rd January 2025

editorial

Title: ​ ​An exit of bluster: On the U.S. and the climate change fight

President Donald Trump has fired his howitzers at multilateralism by signing into decree the United States’ withdrawal from the 2015 Paris Agreement. This sets records that are in a class of their own. The U.S. is the only country to have withdrawn thrice from a climate agreement — beginning with George W. Bush’s withdrawal, in 2001, from the Kyoto Protocol. Mr. Trump, of course, sets a new low by being the only President to withdraw from a climate agreement twice. In the run-up to the decree, there is a pall of gloom in the climate world over what the U.S.’s latest exit might mean, particularly when the globe has finished its first full calendar year above the 1.5° Celsius mark.

The U.S. is the second largest emitterof greenhouse gases. By virtue of being the most powerful economy, it has arrogated to itself the mantle of ‘global leadership’ in addressing climate change. But now that the leader has had the spottiest track record of keeping to the terms of a significant agreement — one, whose rule book the U.S. played a major role in compiling — perhaps it is time for the rest of the world to reassess America’s role in addressing climate change. Under both Republican and Democratic governments, U.S. domestic policy on greenhouse gas emissions has been subservient to business interests. Oil and gas production increased under the Biden administration. The U.S. remains the world’s largest crude oil producer, achieving record production in 2023. The country is also the world’s largest producer of gas and, in 2022, became the world’s largest exporter for liquified natural gas (LNG). Mr. Trump has only committed to add on to this already substantial base. The U.S. is critically short of achieving its target of greenhouse gas emissions. As of 2022, the U.S. has achieved only about one-third of its 2030 emissions reduction target. In the last weeks of his Presidency, Mr. Biden increased the U.S.’s emission-reduction commitments to 61%-66% of 2005 levels by 2035. This too, calculations suggest, will be insufficient to meet a 1.5° C target. Private capital propping up renewable energy has grown exponentially since Mr. Bush, and is now too substantial for Mr. Trump and his financial backers to ignore. While it will take a year for the exit to be formalised, it is likely that the U.S.’s behind-the-scenes engagement — especially at the next climate meet (COP 30) in Brazil in November 2025 — will continue. The politics of Mr. Trump suggests that he is not averse to running with the hare and hunting with the hounds.

Meaning of the word:

WordMeaningSynonymsAntonyms
EngagementRefers to actively being involved in an activity, event, or interaction.Participation
Interaction
Connection
Involvement
Disengagement
Detachment
Withdrawal
Indifference
ArrogatedArrogated means to take or claim something without justification or right. It is often used in contexts where someone assumes authority, power, or privileges that they are not entitled to.Seized
Usurped
Appropriated
Claimed
Relinquished
Surrendered
Renounced
Abdicated

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