PUTRAJAYA expressed dismay and “profound regret” over US President Donald Trump’s decision to leave the Paris climate agreement, calling it a “serious setback” to reducing global emissions of greenhouse gases.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said Trump’s move was a reversal of the previous US administration and a setback on “hard-won compromises” at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

“Malaysia would like to express its profound regret and deep concern at the latest action by the United States of America,” he said in response to Trump’s announcement that the United States withdraw from the accord that had 195 signatories in 2015.

Wan Junaidi said that as the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases globally at 18%, and with a per-capita emissions level that far exceeds the global average, the US has a “moral obligation” to continue taking the lead in addressing climate change and its numerous global impacts

“Having ratified the Paris agreement which itself embodies the spirit of continuous progression and no backtracking, the action by US calls into question the sincerity and good faith on which all multilateral agreements are negotiated and agreed,” he said.

“The world’s most vulnerable, already impacted by increasingly frequent and severe extreme weather events, can no longer tolerate petulant attitudes and retrogressive decisions,” Wan Junaidi said.

Under the Paris accord, signed by former President Barack Obama, the US agreed to reduce carbon emissions by more than a quarter by 2025.  

As a significant global contributor to climate action, the withdrawal by the US represents a serious curtailment of means of implementation for developing countries to adapt and mitigate carbon emissions.

Hilary Chiew, a researcher with environmental think-tank Third World Network, said Trump’s withdrawal had jeopardised efforts to adopt low-carbon and sustainable development programmes.

“If you listen to the entire press conference, it sounded like he was ranting.

“To get them onboard, the world had to compromise to accommodate the US… and to come now and say that it’s a bad deal and that Obama has not protected the American interests is not true at all,” she told BFM in a radio interview today.

When asked if Trump could succeed in his promise to renegotiate the terms of the agreement, Chiew said, “It’s not possible at all. It’s very very unlikely. (The Paris agreement) is a historical and landmark agreement.”

“For just one country to say it wants to renegotiate, that’s not going to happen.”

“We already see that he’s trying to roll back all the policies that Obama has put into place, which were going to bring down their emissions. And now he’s very happily saying that the coal industry can carry on,” she said.

Meanwhile, political economist Andrew Aeria said Malaysia needs to do more regardless of Trump’s decision.

“Trump’s decision is a global wake-up call. He doesn’t care about the rest of the world. It’s clear that if the rest of the world want to save this earth now, the leaders need to do more.

“And frankly, even if the US was involved in the process, the climate change talks and targets aren’t going far enough,” he told TMI.

“And Malaysia for one continues to talk more than act. If we want to participate in global climate change, then we have to act faster.

“Like revamping our electricity supply from diesel and gas to solar, setting and enforcing emission targets, or start reducing import taxes for hybrid cars. Stop all deforestation and replant with local species, not oil palm or acacia. The list of what we can do is only limited by our creativity and political will, or lack of it,” Andrew said.

The NRE said Malaysia remains “hopeful” that the US administration, in aspiring to become “the cleanest country in the world”, will continue to support the consensus on the implementation of the Paris Agreement as the only viable way forward to address the climate crisis.

China, a signatory to the Paris accord, is the world’s largest carbon emitter but has reaffirmed its commitment to reducing emissions recently cancelling construction of 100 coal-fire power plants and investing into wind and solar projects. – June 2, 2017.