CLIMATE ACTION AFTER TREXIT

THE REVERSAL OF THE US GOVERNMENT'S POLICIES ON CLIMATE FINANCE AND WITHDRAWAL FROM THE PARIS AGREEMENT HAVE NOT IMPACTED INDIA'S DECARBONISATION PLANS FOR NOW. BUT SELF-DEPENDENCE AND NEW ALIGNMENTS ARE THE KEY TO MEETING THE NET-ZERO TARGET BY 2070

- SURABHI

DRILL, BABY, DRILL." This slogan used by the Republicans in 2008 is now almost eponymous with US President Donald Trump's policies around climate change and energy transition.

Under the Trump 2.0 administration, the US has been reversing several policies on climate change, even as it focusses on drilling oil, using more fossil fuels and expanding mining. It has also withdrawn from the Paris Agreement that seeks to limit global temperature increase to less than 2°Celsius and strive to keep it at 1.5°Celsius.

“In recent years, burdensome and ideologically motivated regulations have impeded the development of these resources, limited the generation of reliable and affordable electricity, reduced job creation, and inflicted high energy costs upon our citizens,” Trump's first Executive Order on Unleashing American Energy, signed on the day he took the oath of office on January 20, noted.

The countries of the Global South have time and again called out developed countries for inadequate financial support to mitigate the impact of climate change. At the COP29 meet in Baku in November 2024, countries had agreed to provide $300 billion to developing countries to reduce the impact of climate change, but many have said this is not enough.

For much of the developing world, including India, this reversal is a concern, given the huge funding that flows in through the US and various multilateral agencies for climate finance.

In fact, one of the key concerns of the US' second withdrawal from the Paris Agreement is the pulling out of pledged funds. In 2021, the previous Joe Biden administration had committed to a fourfold increase in the country's international public climate finance to developing countries to more than $11 billion per year by 2024.