CARACAS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change will only benefit industry owners and other elite groups, Venezuelan scientist Carlos Mendez said Wednesday.
"I think he is looking out for the interests of the elites in the United States," Mendez, a member of the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research, told Xinhua in an interview.
Trump announced his decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement on June 1, citing concerns that emissions reduction established by the agreement would harm the U.S. economy.
Trump indicated Washington was open to a different, less demanding accord, saying he was willing to negotiate an entirely new agreement with more favorable terms for the United States.
"His biggest concern -- taking into account his statements -- is unfair competition from other countries" rather than the risks of global warming, Mendez said.
After years of hard negotiations, 195 countries finally signed the Paris climate agreement on how to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in December, 2015, when the United States agreed to reduce its emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025.
The withdrawal of the world's largest economy will negatively affect the accord, Mendez said, adding it is tougher to reach the objectives of the Paris Agreement which seeks to keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
But without U.S. cooperation, "we would reach 3.6 degrees Celsius. So the ecological consequences are very serious," said the scientist.
When Trump said lowering carbon emissions and oil production in the United States would affect the country's economy and raise unemployment, he was going to put more fossil fuels in the market, Mendez said.
