President-elect #Donald Trump‘s transition team said they are investigating ways to quickly exit the Paris Climate Agreement, where roughly 200 countries pledged to cut carbon dioxide emissions. Now a Trump source inside the transition team is filling in the missing gaps on how they plan to dismantle President #Obama‘s job-killing #Climate Change legacy.
Governments have been wondering out loud since Trump won the historic U.S. election if his administration would remain faithful to the climate accord. Other countries have reiterated their support for the Paris accord as climate talks continue in Marrakesh, Morocco.
China, the top emitter of greenhouse gases, currently gets a blank check until 2030 at which point it has to start cutting emissions or leave the accord altogether. So far China has ramped up coal production and pledged a “20 percent increase in coal-powered energy capacity by 2020.”
#China building enough new #coal power to fuel all of #Canada https://t.co/nKQkn2MXto
— Tyson Slocum (@TysonSlocum) November 10, 2016
Exiting the climate accord
Trump once tweeted climate change was a “hoax created by the Chinese to make U.S. manufacturing less competitive.” He also promised to exit the climate accord (known as Clexit) and to stop sending money to the United Nations’ climate refugee fund. According to the insider, leaving the accord would involve a four-year-long procedure using diplomatic routes.
The source told Reuters it was reckless for countries to rush and ratify the Paris Climate Agreement before the results of the U.S. election were complete. Many did so out of fear of a Trump victory. The accord came into effect on Nov. 4, four days before the election. Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking from New Zealand, said the Obama administration would work as quickly as possible to get as much of the climate accord into action before Jan. 20, 2017.
