Paris Agreement: Donald Trump will be joining Nicaragua and Syria as non-members of climate change accords
The Central American country does not believe the agreement goes far enough
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement means the the US will join just two countries - Nicaragua and Syria – in opting out of the accord.
Citing “onerous energy restrictions” placed on his country, the US leader used a study by National Economic Research Associates, which claimed 27 million American jobs will be lost by 2025, to justify his decision.
He also argued that China could increase its emissions over the next 13-years under the agreement.
To date 195 countries have signed up to the accord and 147 have ratified it.
However, Nicaragua refused to sign up to the accord, because the central American country does not believe it goes far enough to tackle climate change.
During December 2015 UN in Paris, the head of the Nicaraguan delegation, Paul Oquist, denounced the agreement, calling it a “path to failure.”
He said it wasn't’t doing enough to protect “Mother Earth” and the country’s rebellion was symbolic.
Nicaragua, is a tiny emitter, with a 0.03% share of global emissions, but it is at risk from extreme storms, which experts blame on the overheating caused by climate change.
Shortly after the talks, he told Climate Change News: “We do not want to be accomplices to the death, damages and destruction that a 3C or 4C [warmer] world will represent."
He added that it did not hold larger countries – who pump out the majority of carbon emissions – properly accountable.
Syria has been in the midst of a civil war for more than six years and is subject to European and American sanctions. As a result it could not sign up.
Although Mr Trump has pulled the US out of the deal, he insisted that he "will work to ensure that America remains the world’s leader on environmental issues, but under a framework that is fair and where the burdens and responsibilities are equally shared among the many nations all around the world.”
However, the US president was unclear on how he will reduce emissions from his country, which is second only to China when it comes to emitting fossil fuels.
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