MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The decision of the United States to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord will barely undermine the deal as the decarbonization process is continuing, Adnan Amin, the director-general of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), told Sputnik in an interview.
In early June, US President Donald Trump announced that the United States was withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement. Officially, Washington notified the UN of its withdrawal on August 4.
"Whether the departure of the United States undermines the agreement, I don't think so, because I think what is happening in the United States in terms of investment and energy transition and decarbonization is a process that started some time ago and it is just continuing," Amin, who is the Global Energy Prize International Award committee member, said.
The IRENA official added that the US decision would barely change the state's path toward decarbonization.
"I think that the trajectory of decarbonization in the US will continue," Amin added.
The Paris deal was adopted within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in December 2015 and came into force in November 2016. The accord has been signed by more than 190 countries and ratified by 166. As stipulated in the document, all parties should maintain the increase in average global temperature at below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
