Blaming likely economic impacts and unfair burden sharing, newly appointed US President Trump signed an Executive Order this week that initialises the process to withdraw the country from the Paris Agreement. The order, titled “Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements,” starts the process of withdrawing the United States from any agreement, pact, accord, or similar commitment made under the UNFCCC. The withdrawal will come into effect one year after the notification is deposited with the Secretariat of the UNFCCC, or at a later date specified in the withdrawal notice. The order does not set out any intention to withdraw the US from the UNFCCC. It also seeks to limit its financial contributions to other countries. Another January 20 Executive Order disbands the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases, reevaluates the government’s use of social cost of carbon calculations in permitting, and reevaluates the US EPA’s 2009 determination that current and projected concentrations of GHG threaten the public health and welfare.
