‘President-elect looking at fast ways to quit climate deal’

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump is seeking quick ways of withdrawing from a global agreement to limit climate change, a source on his transition team said, defying widening international backing for the plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Since the US president-elect was chosen, governments ranging from China to small island states have reaffirmed support for the 2015 Paris Agreement at 200nation climate talks running until Friday in Morocco.

Trump, who has called global warming a hoax and has promised to quit the Paris Agreement, was considering ways to bypass a theoretical fouryear procedure for leaving the accord, according to the source who works on Trump’s transition team for international energy and climate policy.

“It was reckless for the Paris agreement to enter into force before the election” last Tuesday, the source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Paris Agreement won enough backing for entry into force on Nov 4.

Alternatives were to send a letter withdrawing from a 1992 Convention that is the parent treaty of the Paris Agreement, voiding US involvement in both in a year’s time, or to issue a presidential order simply deleting the US signature from the Paris accord, the source said.

Many nations have expressed hopes the US will stay. Host Morocco said the agreement that seeks to phase out greenhouse gases in the second half of the century was strong enough to survive a pullout.

“If one party decides to withdraw, that doesn’t call the agreement into question,” foreign minister Salaheddine Mezouar told a news conference.

The deal, reached by almost 200 nations in December, as of Saturday, has been ratified by 109 representing 76% of greenhouse gas emissions, including the US with 18%. – Reuters