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Jeffrey Gogo Climate story
Washington. — 2020 seemed so far away when Donald Trump decided to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The decision shook the world at the time it was announced three years ago, but the reality of its impact is only starting to sink in as it becomes effective later this year.
For example, the pull-out will make it more difficult for the world to meet the 1,5°C temperature goal set out at Paris, including the goals on finance, necessary to help African nations adapt.
America’s exit could take with it the US$3 billion pledged by the country under the Green Climate Fund, a vehicle within the multilateral climate scheme designed to finance projects to build resilience to, and ease the impacts of climate change in emerging economies.
But the presidency of Donald Trump has evidently developed into a pattern, one that isolates America from important, globally binding treaties.
In June 2018, Trump withdrew the US from the UN Human Rights Council for what he called endless hostility against Israel.
The US left the Iran nuclear deal same year. Trump called the deal “embarassing”.
A year earlier, the US announced its full withdrawal from the UN cultural organisation Unesco, citing “anti-Israel” bias.
There are many other examples to choose from, often clothed in bombastic nationalistic tone..
However, this is the story of a man who embodies what many suspect about modern-day America — that it is-a fascist and racist state, swinging to the tune of capitalistic monopoly.
It is an embarrassingly frantic effort of diabolical, extreme nationalism that barely questions the morality of the ‘genius’ behind it. Never mind the impact on humanity and world progress.
There are moments of hilarity — Mr Trump tried to push world leaders into “renegotiating” the Paris Agreement, apparently, to make it “favourable to America”.
He got the middle finger from French president Emmanuel Macron, under whose leadership the climate treaty came to life.
It is difficult to shake off the feeling that the only reason Mr Trump is pulling out of the Paris treaty is because Barack Obama, his predecessor, signed it.
It was Obama that committed to cut carbon emissions by between 26 to 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025. Ever since coming to power, Mr Trump has tried to undo everything that Obama before him did. From Obamacare to the Iran nuclear deal, climate change to the so called Dreamers, an Obama—era project granting immigrants that came to the US as children citizenship, Trump has attempted to rewrite history.Although not an Obama-era project, the latest US (mis)adventure under Mr Trump is its withdrawal from the World Health Oorganisation (WHO).
Mr Trump elicited worldwide condemnation and derision when early last week he announced that the US government will stop funding WHO, accusing the global health body of mismanagement.
UN Secretary General António Guterres said it was “not the time” to cut WHO funding while billionaire Bill Gates called the move “as dangerous as it sounds.”
By cutting funding, the US will effectively cease from being a member of WHO.
As the health agency’s biggest funder, the US withdrawal is designed to inflict maximum damage not only to WHO’s finances, but also to the lives of millions of people around the world whose health depend on it.
Climate change is already causing a spike in diseases such as malaria. Covid-19 has been linked to the science. To cut funding to the World Health Organisation at a time when disease pandemics are on the increase, a time when more money is needed, is an act of cowardice and evil.
But we know from the Paris Agreement experience that Mr Trump’s United States of America is only concerned about self-interest and world control.
By pulling out, Trump has taken with him about a sixth of world emissions from the Paris Agreement. And without Obama’s promised tightening of laws in the US energy industry, targeting power plants, oil and gas, the transport and construction sectors, to eliminate emissions, the US withdrawal will clearly be most damaging to the global effort on climate change.
The damage will be on several fronts and Mr Trump is looking to achieve similar or worse impact with his WHO exit.
Now the Paris Agreement is only a half-down payment to what is actually needed to keep the world a safe place to live in.
But the accord was hailed as an important step to more ambitious action when nearly 200 world governments — except Syria and Nicaragua — agreed to it in France in 2015.
To achieve its goal of a maximum warming of 2 degrees Celsius in this century, the agreement would have to double the action.
Current pledges can only produce a 3,5 degrees Celsius temperature rise, scientists say, something mankind couldn’t bear.
God is faithful.
Online Reporter