Officials representing Russia, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia appear to have doubts about remaining in the Paris climate accord, a senior Trump administration official told reporters at the G-20 summit at Buenos Aires on Dec. 1.
“What was interesting is that this was one of the last issues to close,” the official said. “Because the countries who typically might agree couldn’t agree with each other. And what you’re starting to see is you’re seeing a little bit of the coalition fraying. Countries like Turkey, like Saudi Arabia, like Russia, might be second-guessing some of that.”
The G-20 declaration states that the signatories of the climate accord “reaffirm that the Paris Agreement is irreversible and commit to its full implementation.” That point is followed by a rebuke from the United States.
“The United States reiterates its decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, and affirms its strong commitment to economic growth and energy access and security, utilizing all energy sources and technologies, while protecting the environment,” the declaration states.
Saudi Arabia and Russia are now the world’s second- and third-largest oil producers after the United States became the world’s largest oil producer in August.
Russia’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Sergei Donskoi, told the Sputnik News Agency last year that America’s exit from the climate accord will not impact Russia’s plans to ratify it. Donskoi said Moscow would make a ratification decision no earlier than January 2019.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the G-20 summit leaders in 2017 that Turkey is unlikely to ratify the agreement because Washington’s exit jeopardizes compensation promised to developing countries.
Saudi Arabia was committed to the deal in 2017, promising to make changes in line with its economic reform agenda designed to wean the country off oil.
While announcing the U.S. exit on June 1, 2017, Trump said the agreement “disadvantages the United States to the exclusive benefit of other countries, leaving American workers—who I love—and taxpayers to absorb the cost in terms of lost jobs, lower wages, shuttered factories, and vastly diminished economic production.”
No other country joined the United States in exiting the accord, but the senior administration official’s comments indicated that this may change.
“We preserved our position. I think we explained it. And again, I think our message was resonating in the room, because that was the last issue to close, and there were other countries who are thinking long and hard about whether they still wanted to remain committed to that paradigm,” the official said.
The Paris Climate accord, signed by 195 countries, aims to keep the global temperature rise this century “well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.”
On Dec. 3, world leaders gathered in Katowice, Poland, for what is billed as the most significant climate conference since Paris. Delegates from nearly 200 nations debated on how to achieve the goals of the climate accord. Representatives from some of the world’s most powerful countries were absent from the summit.
Michal Kurtyka, Poland’s deputy environment minister and president of the talks, said that without success in Katowice, Paris would not be a success, as it had only decided what was needed, not how it could be done.
Moreover, the wider political environment had changed.
“The wave of optimism and global cooperation that carried us to and through Paris has now crested, broken, and is now tumbling,” he told delegates.
