The EU said Friday that it would increase cooperation with China to curb climate change after President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the Paris pact, triggering a furious global backlash. Trump announced Thursday that his administration would immediately stop implementing the 195-nation accord brokered by Barack Obama in 2015 in tandem with Chinese leaders.
In what could turn into a global diplomatic realignment, the European Union and China held summit talks to galvanise global efforts to implement all aspects of the deal. "Today we are stepping up our cooperation on climate change with China," Tusk said after hosting climate and trade talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Brussels. "We are convinced that yesterday's decision by the United States to leave the Paris agreement is a big mistake," he added.
European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker, who took part in the summit, said both sides were sending a message to the world: "There is no reverse gear to the energy transition, there is no backsliding on the Paris Agreement." Li earlier warned that the world would become "a jungle" without multilateral rules as the foreign ministry in Beijing said "China as a responsible major country would uphold the pact." Expressions of shock and regret poured in from around the world, including from Pacific islands at risk of being swallowed by rising seas, who accused Washington of "abandoning" them.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the fight against climate change was "unstoppable," as he urged nations to stay within the deal. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the EU's most powerful leader, pledged "more decisive action than ever" to protect the climate after Trump's "highly regrettable" decision.
In a nationalistic "America First" announcement from the White House Rose Garden, Trump said he was withdrawing from a deal that imposes "draconian financial and economic burdens" on the United States while going too easy on economic rivals China, India and Europe. "We don't want other leaders and other countries laughing at us anymore. And they won't be." Trump offered no details about how, or when, a formal withdrawal would happen. At one point he suggested a renegotiation could take place, an idea that was unceremoniously slapped down by partners.
"There is nothing to renegotiate here," EU climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete told reporters in Brussels as he took part in the talks with the Chinese. He said the Paris deal committed entire nations to its terms and would make no concession to a political party like Trump's Republicans. The United States is the world's second-largest greenhouse gas emitter, after China, so Trump's decision could seriously hamper efforts to cut emissions and limit global temperature increases.
Trump's move drew domestic shock and anger, including from Obama, who said the United States was "joining a handful of nations that reject the future." Nicaragua and war-torn Syria are the only countries not party to the Paris accord, the former seeing it as not ambitious enough. Hillary Clinton, Trump's opponent in last year's White House race, called the decision a "historic mistake" where US workers and families would be left out of a global drive to switch to a low-carbon economy.
The Democratic governors of New York, California and Washington states formed a quick alliance, vowing to respect the standards agreed to in the Paris deal. In New York, some major buildings, like the World Trade Center and City Hall, were lit green in solidarity with the climate agreement, echoing a move in Paris. With much of the implementation of the accord taking place at the local level, the Paris accord's supporters hope the deal will be in hibernation rather than killed off entirely.
Trump's decision is likely to play well with the Republican base, with the more immediate damage likely to appear on the diplomatic front. Vice President Mike Pence said that Trump "has demonstrated his commitment ... to put American workers, American consumers, American energy, and the American people first." Ever the showman, the 70-year-old Trump gave his decision a reality TV-style tease, refusing to indicate his preference either way until his announcement.
Opponents of the pullout - said to include Trump's daughter Ivanka - had warned that Washington's global leadership role was at stake, along with the environment. A dozen large companies including oil major BP, agrochemical giant DuPont and tech heavyweights Google, Intel and Microsoft had urged Trump to stick to the pact. Ultimately, the lobbying by Trump's environment chief Scott Pruitt and strategist Steve Bannon urging the president to leave won out.
Following the announcement Tesla boss Elon Musk and Disney chief Robert Iger said they would no longer participate in presidential business councils. "Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world," Musk said. White House officials acknowledged that under the deal, a formal withdrawal might not take place until after the 2020 election, and leaders will certainly push Trump to reconsider his decision in the meantime.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi - who has said failing to address climate change would be "morally criminal" - is due to visit the White House shortly. Trump's announcement comes less than 18 months after the climate pact was adopted, the fruit of a hard-fought agreement between Beijing and Washington under Obama's leadership. The Paris Agreement commits signatories to efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, which is blamed for melting ice caps and glaciers, rising sea levels and an increase in extreme weather events. They vowed to take steps to keep the worldwide rise in temperatures "well below" two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial times and to "pursue efforts" to hold the increase under 1.5 degrees Celsius.
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