It's a blow to emission reduction efforts: Donald Trump has pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement. But climate protection will carry on - there may even be a bright side.
Even though I'm not surprised, I am still shocked.
With this move, the US president has turned his back on the rest of the world - and on future generations of humankind.
The stranger part of the story is that, in pulling out of the Paris Agreement, Trump has also gone against fossil fuel firms, hundreds of major businesses and investors, a large number of Republicans and half of his own cabinet.
With the move, Trump has catered to a small but vocal extreme-right constituency - one that is overrepresented among his cabinet and advisors.
In essence, he's sealed his own fate as isolated - and cemented the decline of the US.
And although this is in fact very bad news for the global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, there are possible advantages - even for the climate.
Climate protection will carry on
Since the US generates about a fifth of all global greenhouse gas emissions, the country stepping out of the treaty is indeed a blow to efforts to reduce them. According to analyses, America could add around half a degree Celsius to global warming by the end of this century, if it does nothing to reduce emissions.
The Paris Agreement - still a guiding lightImage: Getty Images/AFP/P. Kovarik
Half a degree in global climatic terms is a big deal - we're talking more severe storms, sea level rise and accelerated species extinction among the impacts - not all of them even known.
This is what climate change looks like
To prevent disaster, global warming must be limited to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius, climate experts say. Effects of climate change are plain to see - and they could be a taste of what's to come.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Flaming inferno
Some 10,500 firefighters were called to tackle forest fires in California in 2015. They were unable to prevent 1,400 homes from destruction. The blaze was fueled by hot and dry weather - as a result of climate change.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Vanishing hunting grounds
The polar bear has become a symbol of climate change, as its habitat is threatened by global warming. The Arctic predator hunts from ice sheets that are fast disappearing. As the ice retreats, they are unable to stalk their prey, and risk starvation. By 2050, scientists warn that the Arctic could be ice-free in summer.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Needle in a haystack
Just visible from the air is a little wood hut on the island of Spitzbergen in Norway. It is home to the Arctic research base where French and German scientists are studying climatic and atmospheric changes in the polar region, including the damage done to permafrost and glacier systems.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
No use bleating
A goat watches a mountain expedition on the Swiss Aletsch Glacier, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was around a kilometer longer in 1860 than it is today. Due to global warming, the glacier is shrinking by up to 50 meters per year. With the rate of retreat increasing, scientists fear Europe's biggest glacier could disappear altogether.
Image: Reuters/D. Balibouse
Viewed from a safe distance …
… the landscape looks peaceful, bathed in a mystical light. But the actual situation is far more unsettling. This aerial view shows Central Luzon in the Philippines, completely flooded after it was hit by a typhoon and heavy rain. People were drowned or buried under landslides, and half a million were forced to flee their homes. The country is hit by 20 typhoons each year.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
When everything is lost …
… escape is all that's left. The World Bank warns that if global warming continues unimpeded, another 100 million people will be under threat. Poor people in parts of Africa and South Asia are at particular risk. Drought and flooding threaten crops - leading to hunger, disease and high food prices.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Children carry the burden
Climate change often hits children the hardest, through no fault of their own. Studies have found that economic problems exacerbated by drought can have profound social impacts, such as in an increase in child marriages, for example. Families may marry off their underage daughters earlier to have fewer mouths they have to feed.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Malasig
'Renewable' elephants
Elephants produce huge quantities of manure. At Munich's Hellabrunn Zoo in Germany, one local utility is turning their waste into electric power. Around 2,000 tons of biowaste provides enough power for a hundred homes. Could this be a model for an African school? In any case, climate change is forcing new ways of thinking in the search for green energy.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Shipping out
The Rhine River is Europe's busiest waterway for shipping - but climate change is affecting business. Ongoing drought means shipping firms would be forced to use shorter vessels that can navigate shallower waters. If ships aren't able to set off, more goods have to be transported by road - which is more expensive.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Pale as a ghost
Healthy coral reefs are like a blooming garden. But global warming is bleaching the life out of them. Corals have a symbiotic relationship with algae, which are vital to their health. But as the water heats up, they expel the algae. If warmer water temperatures persist, a lack of nutrients calcifies the corals, which makes their color fade and causes the organisms to die.
Image: imago/blickwinkel
Vineyards heading north
Global warming also has its benefits. In recent years, wine is being produced on Germany's northernmost island, Sylt. Ever more vineyards are being established at higher altitudes and further north - even Scandinavia now has some. Global warming also means earlier harvests and sweeter grapes.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
11 images1 | 11
But the US pulling out of the Paris Agreement is far from the end of it. Other nations - most notably China, European Union countries and India - are already taking the lead in showing the way to a clean energy future.
Climate protection and the transition to renewable energy will carry on, regardless of the whims of one powerful - though clueless - man.
Making America weak
In pulling the US out of the Paris Agreement, Trump is not only betraying humankind - he is betraying America.
The US will be left behind; it will be disadvantaged economically in the long run. Pulling the US out of the Paris Agreement makes America weak.
And diplomatic fallout will be extensive. Germany has already said that the US is no longer a reliable partner, due among other things to Trump's stance on climate change.
Free to be ambitious
The Paris Agreement foresees limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius, preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Although not everyone knows it, there is broad understanding that unless greenhouse gas emission reductions are dramatically scaled up over the next five to 10 years, we are already on a path to surpass the 1.5 degree goal within a decade or so.
Luckily, the Paris Agreement has a built-in "ambition mechanism" that requires countries to review their targets every five years.
If the US had stayed in the Paris Agreement, there was concern that Trump and his fossil fuel cronies would have watered down any such aspirations.
Without the US, other countries are free to ramp up their goals without climate deniers dragging them down. In this context, some argue that the Paris Agreement would actually be stronger if the US did not participate.
But none of that makes Trump's betrayal any less significant. It will stand as a folly throughout the ages.
Sonya Angelica Diehn heads the environment team at Deutsche Welle.
Have something to say? You can leave your comment below. The thread will remain open for 24 hours after publication.
