After Trump jolt, who’ll take lead to save planet?

The body language at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron had so much to portray when seen against events surrounding the Paris Agreement, now swirling in world politics. The affectionate bearhug was in direct contrast to the stiff handshake that only last week marked a similar first encounter between US President Donald Trump and Mr Macron. The rest of the world is, justifiably, angry at the US President for reneging on the deal, allowing the internal compulsions of a divided America to dominate his decision-making. The US pullout may have changed the equations somewhat, while the chemistry Mr Modi and Mr Macron appeared to share is positive not only for bilateral ties between two democracies but also for a world waking up to the need to get together in an effort to save the planet from global warming.

America’s exit from the landmark climate deal will come into force only years later. Mr Trump is also besieged by a clutch of top US corporations and political thinkers who still swear allegiance to the plan to save the planet. It appears even Mr Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner were ignored as he took this regressive decision. All may not be lost, but US funding, expected to be around 20 per cent of the massive funding needed to phase out polluting power plants and, more important, its cutting-edge technology in energy, will be sorely missed. Mr Modi and Mr Macron, like Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese PM Li Keqiang in Berlin just days earlier, pledged to “go above and beyond the Paris deal” to protect future generations. It appears, in Mr Trump’s abdication, there are willing takers for world leadership, at least to save the Paris deal and leave a better world for posterity.

A touch of desperation is, however, visible in reactions to the US move. It’s important everyone moves on from sharp rhetoric and gets down to working seriously on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The financing of the deal may have to change, but there can be no returning to the old arguments on whether all polluters pay equally or make differentiated payments. Who steps in to close the yawning financial gap left by the US is vital, and this is where global unity will be first tested. India’s global role may be constrained by its own difficulties in coming up with funding to switch off coal-fired plants and increase output from renewable sources, now producing less than a fifth of its power. Even so, its visibility in rubbing shoulders with world leaders at this crucial time comes through in its aspiration to take on this responsibility. The climate deal is, after all, to do with saving the planet rather than scoring diplomatic points.