US withdrawal process doesn’t become official until the day after the 2020 presidential election
OPEC ‘fully engaged’ with Paris climate pact
Oil cartel Secretary General says OPEC fully supports Paris Agreement on climate change one day after US administration said it had filed paperwork to withdraw Washington from the pact.
Tuesday 05/11/2019
US withdrawal process doesn’t become official until the day after the 2020 presidential election
VIENNA - OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said on Tuesday that the oil producer group fully supports the Paris Agreement on climate change, a day after the Trump administration said it had filed paperwork to withdraw the United States from the pact.
"OPEC is fully engaged with the Paris Agreement," Barkindo said at the launch of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' World Oil Outlook.
The US move is part of a broader strategy by President Donald Trump to reduce red tape on American industry, but comes at a time scientists and many world governments urge rapid action to avoid the worst impacts of global warming.
Once it exits, the United States - the top historic greenhouse gas emitter and leading oil and gas producer - will become the only country outside the accord.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed the step in a Twitter post on Monday and pointed out that the United States had trimmed its emissions in recent years even as it had grown its energy production.
"The US is proud of our record as a world leader in reducing all emissions, fostering resilience, growing our economy, and ensuring energy for our citizens," he said.
The State Department's letter to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres starts the clock on a process that will be complete one day after the 2020 US presidential election.
All the top Democratic presidential contenders seeking to unseat Trump have promised to re-engage in the Paris Agreement if they win. But the withdrawal could leave a lasting mark, said Andrew Light, a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute and former adviser to the US climate envoy under Democratic President Barack Obama.
"While it serves the political needs of the Trump administration, we will lose a lot of traction with respect to US influence globally," he said.
The Obama administration had signed the United States onto the 2015 pact, promising a 26-28% cut in US greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 from 2005 levels.
Trump campaigned on a promise to rescind that pledge, saying it would hurt the US economy while leaving other big polluters like China to increase emissions. He was bound by US rules to wait until Nov. 4, 2019, to file exit papers.