Since Trump won the US elections, the big question at the core of the climate arena is “in the event of the US leaving the Paris Agreement what will be the reaction of the other signatories?”, or to put in other words: can the Paris agreement survive without the US?
A number of important and respectable policy makers and academics replied to this hot issue in a recent article published by China Dialogue. The short answer is “yes, it will” but here are the highlights from their replies:
- “The global trend towards a low-carbon transition is irreversible” for Zou Ji from the National Centre for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation.
- “Countries will ratchet up their efforts because it is in their domestic interests” states Barbara Finamore from the National Resources Defence Council.
- “Least developed countries will fiercely contest a weakened Agreement” for Arunabha Ghosh, CEO of Council on Energy, Environment and Water, a climate thinktank.
- “Expect countries to… await the outcome of the presidential elections of 2020“, says Richard Klein, a senior research fellow at the Stockholm Environmental Institute.
- “China will seek to fill any economic void left by the US on a host of issues” states Andrew Light, distinguished senior fellow at World Resources Institute.
- “China is now more proactive than ever in contributing to global governance states” indicates Qi Ye, a professor at Tsinghua University and director at the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy.