Papua New Guinea should not worry about the United States’ announcement to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, says expert Paul Barker from the Institute of National Affairs.
U.S President Donald Trump recently announced that he was withdrawing the US from the Paris climate accord, which he claimed placed financial burdens on the American people.
Barker explained that other countries in the world have begun negotiating the rulebook for the implementation of the climate deal.
He said the biggest contributors to environmental reforms tend to be some of those developed countries like Norway with small populations and yet, they have been at the forefront.
Barker highlighted that countries like Sweden and Canada are very wealthy and have been quite generous contributors to the Green Climate Fund.
“Obviously U.S is a massive economy and its contribution would be very fundamental to the operation of environmental and climate reforms within developing countries like PNG,” he stated.
“But I think the general momentum is probably going to continue to drive the Paris accord forward, to pressure the U.S.
“Even Trump is acknowledging the man-made greenhouse gas emission and he’s not saying that he doesn’t believe that climate change is real, he’s just complaining about the amount the U.S has to contribute.”
Barker added that withdrawal takes a five-year period, according to the Paris accord, so everyone, including PNG, should not be panicking.