Trump did the right thing. Other nations such as Saudi Arabia and China are causing more pollution (on a per capita basis), and still the burden of reducing the climate change is falling on just the western nations and Japan. Everyone has to share the burden.
Before you sing the praises of this idiot Trump remember that to date only two countries have not signed the Paris agreement — Syria and Nicaragua. Russia, Iran and the DPRK has not yet ratified it. Barack Obama, who has put his signature under the Paris agreement, declare today, June 1, because of Trump's "the United States joined the handful of countries that reject the future".
That still doesn't address the main concern. Right now, most of the burden is on the United States and the European Union. China and countries such as Saudi Arabia are not required to make much sacrifices. The agreement needs to be modified, to make it palatable to all.
It has to do with the level of industrialization. A 2 year old is allowed to shit on the carpet, a 20 year old not. If you want to prevent certain countries from passing through industrialization then you have to offer them tech etc to do that.
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/06/china-trump-paris-factsBut here's the reality: In the Paris agreement, China, for the first time, set a date at which it expects its climate emissions will "peak," or finally begin to taper downward: around 2030. That goal came about after the US and China finally brokered a landmark bilateral climate deal in 2014 to work together. China has always argued it's unfair for developed countries—who have already enjoyed the economic growth that comes with spewing carbon into the atmosphere—to curtail the growth of developing countries like China. So getting China to agree to "peaking" emissions was a major diplomatic break-through that turned out to be the secret sauce the world needed to come together in Paris.
The president's view of China is outdated. Here's what Trump left out:
China is already ahead of schedule. As we reported in March 2016, Chinese emissions may have actually peaked in 2014, and if those emissions didn't peak in 2014, researchers say, they definitely will by 2025, years ahead of China's official 2030 goal. Chinese coal consumption dropped 3.7 percent in 2015, marking two years in a row that coal use in the country declined. That meant 2015 was the first year in 15 years that carbon emissions dropped in China, according to the World Resources Institute.
China is far surpassing the US on investment to create clean energy jobs. In February, China announced that it would spent $361 billion over the next couple of years to create 13 million green jobs, according to the country's National Energy Administration.
China is winning on clean energy technology. In 2016, a Chinese firm topped a global ranking for wind energy production for the first time, beating America's General Electric. China leads the world in solar energy production—and has done so for some time. (Go inside one of the world's biggest solar manufacturing plants with me, here.)
This year China is slated to launch the world's biggest national carbon trading market—stitching together seven pilot carbon trading markets which have been up and running since 2013.
China overtook the US as the world's biggest market for electric vehicles in 2015—and has a big plans for expansion. "We are convinced China will become the leading market for electro-mobility," said Volkswagen brand chief Herbert Diess at a recent Shanghai car show.
China is on track to practically own African development, a product of toxic U.S. policies, many of which have yet to come to light.
I consider China a country that could become potentially a problem, but there is no match for the problems that the U.S. has created and is creating through moronic policies built to protect very narrow interests.