Trump's toxic announcement on climate change

President Donald Trump's announcement that the United States will exit from the Paris Agreement betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the way the agreement works. It also goes against long-agreed climate principles, and is blind to emergent clean energy trends. In practical terms, the US had activated a rollback of mitigation policies and contributions to climate finance prior to this announcement. Until there are changes in domestic US climate politics-of which there are positive signs-the US cannot be regarded a reliable partner for global climate cooperation.