No secret he was thinking of pulling out

DONALD Trump has never made a secret of the fact that he was thinking about withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, which the US signed up to two years ago.

It commits signatories to limiting the rise in global temperatures to ‘well below’ two degrees Centigrade and this means restrictions on industries that burn large amounts of carbon dioxide – such as coal-fired power stations.

Mr Trump says the losers are the US coal, oil and gas industries, calling the plan a ‘war on coal’ – since coal-fired power stations produce the most carbon dioxide. He also said that the deal was costing his country ‘trillions’ of dollars – with no tangible benefit. Under the deal, carbon taxes are imposed to dampen down fossil fuel use, imposing greater costs on industries such as steel-making.

Rich countries are expected to provide funding to help developing countries make the costly shift to cleaner energy sources.

Some critics of the deal have said the Paris Agreement penalises the industrial base of the developed world to the benefit of the economies of China and the rest of the emerging economies.

The agreement is, in effect, voluntary – and there is no penalty for failing to meet them. Calling the concept of global warming a ‘Chinese Hoax’, Mr Trump has said it was ‘created by and for the Chinese’. He also argues there is no evidence humans are responsible for climate change.