The New York Times reported on Nov. 8 that President-elect Donald Trump's climate and environment transition team is considering a number of major moves, including another U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. The news was a bombshell, casting a shadow over the upcoming November 25th global “plastic ban” and the future of climate governance.
1. The context of the Paris Agreement
The Paris Agreement, a climate change agreement signed by 178 parties from around the world, was adopted on December 12, 2015, at the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference (Paris Climate Conference) and entered into force on November 4, 2016.
The main objective of the Agreement is to limit the increase in global average temperature in this century to less than 2°C and to limit the increase in global temperature to less than 1.5°C above the level of the pre-industrial period, setting specific targets for the global response to climate change, which will help to protect the Earth's ecosystem and slow down the trend of global warming.
The Paris Agreement has brought all countries of the world into the community of destiny of caring for the Earth's ecology and ensuring human development, promoted cooperation and exchanges among countries on the issue of climate change, broken down previous differences and games on the climate issue, and made all countries jointly responsible for combating climate change.
2. United States in and out of the Paris Agreement
Trump withdrew for the first time in 2017.On June 1, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump (term January 20, 2017 to January 20, 2021) announced at the White House in Washington, D.C. that the U.S. would halt implementation of the non-binding Paris Agreement, stating that the agreement puts the U.S. at a disadvantage to the benefit of other countries. Trump has called climate change a hoax and threatened to withdraw from the Paris Agreement during his campaign. After taking office, he called for an evaluation of changes to the Clean Power Plan, developed by the Obama administration to reduce carbon emissions from power plants, and also proposed that the fiscal year 2018 federal budget propose to stop funding some United Nations programs to combat climate change and to significantly cut the budget of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.On November 4, 2020, the United States formally withdrew from the Paris Agreement, making it the only party to have withdrawn from the agreement to date .
Biden rejoins in 2021.In 2021, after the Biden administration, which favors protecting the environment, came to power, the United States, for its part, announced on February 19 that it had formally rejoined the Paris Agreement. After two weeks of negotiations, the parties finalized the Paris Agreement's implementing regulations at the conclusion of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, England, on November 13 of that year.
2024 Trump is poised to drop out again. 2024 U.S. election, Trump promised during the campaign to repeal a number of clean-energy mandates and reverse Biden's investments in things like green technology and expanding development of natural gas and coal, among other things, if he were elected.
Now that Trump has been successfully elected, his transition team has prepared a series of executive orders and announcements on climate and energy that plan to once again withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement. This is to allow for more fossil energy drilling and extraction activities. Trump will also move quickly to end the Biden administration's ban on liquefied natural gas exports and revoke a waiver that allows California and other states to impose stricter pollution standards.
3, Trump's new administration again “withdrawal”, the impact of the global “plastic limit”
As Trump prepares to “withdraw” from the group again, the global “plastic limit” will also come to a critical moment.
The fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) was held in Busan, South Korea, from November 25 to December 1, 2024, with the objective of developing a legally binding international instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, commonly referred to as the global “plastic ban”.
The development of a global “plastic ban” remains divided: the European Union, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Kenya, among others, advocate a reduction in the production of plastics, while oil and petrochemical exporters such as Saudi Arabia, China, Russia, Iran, Cuba and Bahrain advocate a focus on recycling and reuse of plastics -- the “recyclability” of the plastic supply. -The “recyclability” of the plastic supply.
The position of the U.S. government has also changed, with the Biden administration, which had previously hoped to find a middle ground in the negotiations to avoid “factionalism,” making a major shift in August 2024 to join the European Union in supporting a reduction in the production of new plastics. Trump, who will take office on January 20, 2025, is a strong supporter of fossil energy and has emphasized the importance of U.S. energy independence and traditional energy sources.
The Paris Agreement focuses primarily on climate change, but there is a potential link to the global “plastic ban”. The objective of the Paris Agreement is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow down global warming, while the production, use and disposal of plastics generate significant greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, from the perspective of reducing GHG emissions and protecting the environment, the objectives of the two are the same.
As a major power in the world, the United States has an important influence on its attitude and actions in international affairs. If the Trump administration withdraws from the Paris Agreement again, it may raise questions in other countries about the U.S. willingness to cooperate on environmental issues, which will affect the formulation and implementation of the global “plastic limit”. In addition, some countries may follow the example of the United States and adopt an inactive stance on environmental issues, which will pose an even greater challenge to the development and implementation of a global “plastic ban.”
