Leaving the Paris Agreement would be Trump's worst move yet
The Trump administration is reportedly in the midst of a heated debate over whether to remain committed to the Paris Climate Agreement. (Cue "should I stay or should I go.")
That pact, which was negotiated in late 2015 and entered into force in November 2016, is the first global warming treaty ever devised to commit developing and industrialized nations alike to take steps to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. It is the culmination of more than three decades of dogged diplomacy on this issue, and abandoning it would be a bold and risky move.
SEE ALSO: No, U.S. climate scientists didn't trick the world into adopting the Paris deal
If the administration chooses to exit Paris, or to submit the agreement to the Senate for a vote, which the Obama administration deemed unnecessary, it would risk fierce blowback on the international stage from friends and foes alike (not to mention outrage from the domestic climate movement).
It would be the international relations equivalent of pleading with all of your friends and enemies to gather in one room to work on a vital shared concern together.
Then, right after you reach agreement — largely due to your own herculean efforts — you let out an absurdly loud fart, the type of fart so loud that everyone knows you did it on purpose.
Then you throw a stun grenade over your shoulder, slam the door as you run out, step on a rusty nail and fall down a flight of stairs.
You're left lying there, at the foot of the stairs, needing a tetanus shot, with several broken bones and a room full of newfound foes eager to retaliate against you for what you did in that room.
That injured person on the floor would be the Trump administration's foreign policy, were it to go through with a Paris Agreement withdrawal.
(It took a masters in foreign policy to be able to write that, I'll have you know.)
Seriously though, the U.S. is the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases on the planet, and the biggest historical emitter — meaning that we caused much of the global warming problem in the first place.
The entire world — and I do mean the entire world — is united on the need to tackle global warming. And we're thinking of turning our backs on the rest of the globe at the very moment when there is finally agreement on this issue.
In other words, that's messed up.
To hammer home that point further, here's a list of all the countries that would be further ahead of the U.S. in addressing climate change if Trump pulls the rug out from underneath the Paris Agreement. Each of them has already signed and ratified the Paris Agreement, meaning it is already in force for them.
You can bet these are also the ones that will be most ticked off by a U.S. withdrawal.
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belize
Benin
Bolivia
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
China
Comoros
Cook Islands
Costa Rica
Seriously folks this list keeps going.
Cote D'Ivoire
Cuba
Cyprus
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (aka North Korea)
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Estonia
European Union
Fiji
Finland
France
Gabon
Gambia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea
Guyana
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Italy
And going...
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Lao People's Democratic Republic (aka Laos)
Lesotho
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Madagascar
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Micronesia
Monaco
Mongolia
And going...
Morocco
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
New Zealand
Niger
Niue
Norway
Pakistan
Palau
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
We're only on the letter "p." Are you getting the point yet?
Poland
Portugal
Republic of Korea
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Sao Tome and Principe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
State of Palestine
Swaziland
Sweden
Thailand
Tonga
Tunisia
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Uruguay
Vanuatu
Vietnam
Zambia
Get all that?
Keep in mind that this is just the list of countries that have both signed and ratified the agreement. The roster of countries that have signed, but not yet ratified the agreement is even longer, representing just about every nation on Earth.
Image: Mori/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Leaving the agreement would abdicate U.S. leadership on a critical issue that will shape our future in ways that we haven't even fully grasped yet, from where our biggest cities are located to how much food we can grow.
It would also severely complicate the Trump administration's ability to solve a wide range of problems around the world. In addition, it would hand leadership on this issue, and on clean technology development, to China.
“There is a very high risk that there will be blowback from other countries on the rest of the Trump foreign policy agenda," said Andrew Light, a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute who served as a climate advisor at the State Department under President Obama.
He said the risk isn't so much that the U.S. delays its emissions cuts by a four-year Trump term, but rather that other countries, particularly major developing nations like India, Brazil and China back away from their pledges too.
For now, we're all still in that room. But the world is watching us closely.
