US starts to withdraw from Paris climate pact

United States President Donald Trump claps during a rally at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky on November 4. Pic /AFP

Washington: The US has formally notified the United Nations (UN) of its withdrawal from the 2015 Paris climate accord, a landmark global agreement, which brought together 188 nations, including India, to combat global warming. The Paris Agreement, in which Trump's predecessor Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi played instrumental roles, was adopted at the UN climate conference "COP 21" held in the French capital in 2015 with an aim to reduce the hazardous greenhouse gas emissions.

Although Trump announced his decision to withdraw from the historic agreement on June 1, 2017, the process began on Monday with the formal notification and the US will be out of the pact on November 4, 2020. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he has submitted a formal notice to the UN. "Today, the US began the process to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.

Per the terms of the agreement, the US submitted formal notification of its withdrawal to the UN. The withdrawal will take effect one year from delivery of the notification," Pompeo said in a statement. A spokesperson of the UN secretary-general in New York said the US has notified the secretary-general, in his capacity as depositary, of its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement of December 12, 2015 on November 4, 2019.

Pullout undermines pact, says Russia

Russia joined other nations in criticising the US withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, saying it undermined the agreement. The US pullout "undermines this agreement in the most serious way, because it is the leading country in terms of emissions," President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media. "And without the largest economy in the world, it's very, very hard to talk about any kind of climate agreement."

November 4
Day next year the US will be out of the pact

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