New Delhi: Crying foul that the Paris Climate Agreement favours world’s leading polluters like India and China, while being unfair to the United States, US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the country’s withdrawal from the global climate deal.

India, however, is expected to remain firm on its commitments, without taking any extra responsibility regarding cutting down on emissions to compensate for US’s withdrawal.

US’s withdrawal from the Paris climate deal was being seen as imminent since the past few days. During the recent G7 meeting, Trump had reportedly informed other world leaders that he will soon take a decision on the Paris deal. During his election campaign too, Trump had promised to withdraw from the Paris climate deal finalised by over 190 countries in December 2015.

Announcing US’s pullout, Trump, while addressing the White House, said, “Not only does this deal subject our citizens to harsh economic restrictions, it fails to live up to our environmental ideals. As someone who cares deeply about the environment, which I do, I cannot in good conscience support a deal that punishes the United States—which is what it does—the world’s leader in environmental protection, while imposing no meaningful obligations on the world’s leading polluters."

“For example, under the agreement, China will be able to increase these emissions by a staggering number of years—13. They can do whatever they want for 13 years. Not us. India makes its participation contingent on receiving billions and billions and billions of dollars in foreign aid from developed countries. There are many other examples. But the bottom line is that the Paris Accord is very unfair, at the highest level, to the United States," Trump said.

He also stressed that under the deal, China and India will be allowed to build hundreds of additional coal plants.

“So we can’t build the plants, but they can, according to this Agreement. India will be allowed to double its coal production by 2020. Think of it: India can double their coal production. We’re supposed to get rid of ours. Even Europe is allowed to continue construction of coal plants," he added, while announcing that US will negotiate to get a fair deal.

US’s dumping of the Paris Agreement was like history repeating itself all over again. In 2001, then US President George W. Bush too had decided to not ratify the Kyoto Protocol calling it unfair and stating that it would harm US economy and workers. Kyoto Protocol was Paris Agreement’s predecessor.

US’s exit, meanwhile, cannot be immediate because as per the Paris Agreement, it would take another four years for it to leave the deal.

In a statement released after US’s pullout, the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said it regrets the announcement by the President of the United States that his government will withdraw from the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

“The Secretariat also notes the announced intention to renegotiate the modalities for the US participation in the agreement. In this regard, it stands ready to engage in dialogue with the United States government regarding the implications of this announcement," the statement said.

It, however, clarified that the Paris Agreement remains a historic treaty signed by 194 and ratified by 147 countries. Therefore, it cannot be renegotiated based on the request of a single party.

India, however, is ready to remain firm on its commitments.

“Under Prime Minster Narendra Modi, India has taken leadership role on climate change. India will not turn its back on the world. India leading with International Solar Alliance is one such shining example. We will stand by all commitments made in the deal and otherwise too. We will achieve our Intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs)," said a senior official of India’s environment ministry, wishing anonymity, while reacting to a query about US’s expected withdrawal.

The official, however, clearly said that India will not take any additional responsibility.

“We already have very ambitious goals and resources stretched. We won’t take any more responsibility whether it is financial or to cut down on emissions to make up for US," the official added.

Prior to signing the Paris Agreement in December 2015, India had announced ambitious emission reduction targets. India had said it aims to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33-35% by 2030 from 2005 levels, and achieve 40% of its cumulative electric power of around 350GW installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources, mainly renewable power.

In December 2015, 195 nations adopted the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) replacing its predecessor Kyoto Protocol.

It came into force on 4 November 2016, and 147 nations across the world have already ratified the Agreement.

The Paris Agreement aims to limit rise in global temperature well below 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times and make efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the end of 2100. Under the Agreement, developed countries will provide finance of $100 billion every year to developing countries by 2020 and raise climate finance from a floor of $100 billion from 2025.

During the December 2015 negotiations for the Paris Agreement, strong emerging economies like India and China were suggested to also contribute to the climate funds but the Agreement only made it mandatory for the developed countries and left it on the wishes of the developing countries. With US’s pullout, this demand may again find momentum but is unlikely to find a lot of favour with the Indian establishment.

As expected, US’s withdrawal came under heavy criticism from all quarters, including experts who called it a death knell for the Paris Agreement.

“The USA is not only the largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases, but also one of the major current emitters. Without the active and ambitious contribution from the US, any action to combat climate change under the Paris Agreement will be insufficient by a huge margin. Even if other countries, including developing countries, raise their ambition, they would not be able to fill in the void left by the US. It is, therefore, not sufficient to shift the burden of addressing climate change to other countries, including China and India," said Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general of the Centre for Science and Environment, a Delhi-based think tank, working on environmental and health-related issues.

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