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US President Donald Trump has pulled the United States out of the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change. The decision has horrified world leaders, who widely condemned his decision.

Mr Trump claimed he did it for economic reasons, saying it would cost American jobs. The US coal industry backed the move, citing the Paris climate agreement would have badly affected the US economy. The US President said it was fulfilling his “solemn duty to protect America and its citizens.”

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, “The US had a terrific record on reducing our own greenhouse gas.”

The 2015 Paris agreement on climate change committed the 195 countries, including the USA, to keeping rising global temperatures to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and endeavour to limit them even more to 1.5°C.

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Recently in Paris UN negotiators met to discuss climate change. Delegates wanted to discuss policies to keep a global temperature rise to below 2°C.

Is such a meeting just a lot of hot air and false promises? The last such meeting two years ago in Warsaw proved to be exactly this! Will the UN negotiators actually negotiate a meaningful policy this time round that all nations in the world will keep? Judge for yourself on this point.

Scientists have warned us that temperatures could rise by 5°C above pre-industrial levels by 2100. The meeting of world leaders in Paris hopes to contain this to below 2°C. They pledged to cut emissions of greenhouse gases.

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