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Look at India, the air is filthy: Trump
KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 10/24/2020 10:40:00 AM
NEW DELHI, Oct 23: United States President Donald Trump has accused China, India and Russia of not taking care of their "filthy air" as he justified America's withdrawal from the "unfair" Paris climate agreement.
Trump, a known climate change sceptic, wants to expand non-renewable energy. He aims to increase drilling for oil and gas, and roll back further environmental protections in America.
"Look at China, how filthy it is. Look at Russia. Look at India, it's filthy. The air is filthy," Trump said during the final presidential debate with his Democratic challenger Joe Biden in Nashville, Tennessee.
"We have the best emission numbers that we've had in 35 years under this administration. We are working so well with the industry," he said responding to a question on climate change during the debate that lasted just over 90 minutes.
Trump has repeatedly blamed countries like India and China for not doing enough on climate change, labelling them as regions with air that is impossible to breathe.
Reiterating that he loves the environment, Trump said he wants cleanest, crystal-clear water, the cleanest air. "We have the best, lowest number in carbon emissions, which is a big standard that I notice (Barack) Obama goes with all the time, not Joe. I haven't heard Joe use the term because I'm not sure he knows what it represents or means, but I have heard Obama use it," he said.
"The Paris Accord, I took us out because we were going to have to spend trillions of dollars and we were treated very unfairly. When they put us in there, they did is a great disservice. They were going to take away our businesses," he asserted.
In 2017, Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, saying the international deal to keep global temperatures rises below 2 degree Celsius was disadvantageous to US workers.
Biden, on the other hand, said that if voted to power in November, he would rejoin the historic Paris agreement on climate change and hold countries like China accountable for pollution.
Trump has continuously argued that countries like China and India are benefiting the most from the Paris agreement.
Speaking to his cheering supporters at an election rally in the key battleground State of North Carolina last week, Trump had blamed countries like China, Russia and India for adding to the global air pollution.
"We have the best environmental numbers, ozone numbers, and so many other numbers. In the meantime, China, Russia, India all these countries they're spewing stuff into the air," he alleged.
China is the world's biggest carbon emitter followed by the US, India and the EU.
Trump's latest comments come at a time when pollution levels in New Delhi dropped to the 'very poor' category and are likely to worsen in the coming days. Delhi's Air Quality Index has been recorded at 302, which is in the 'very poor' category.
Trump asserted that he will not sacrifice tens of millions of jobs, thousands and thousands of companies, because of the Paris Accord.
"It was so unfair. China doesn't kick in until 2030. Russia goes back to a low standard. And we kicked in right away. It would have destroyed our businesses," he said.