At a Glance

President Donald Trump justified the U.S. pullout from the Paris Climate Accord on the negative effect the measures would haveon the economy.Many economists consider the opposite to be true.

When President Donald Trump announced last week that the United States wouldpullout of the historic Paris Climate Accord, he justified his decision, in part, on the negative effect it would haveon the economy.

Many consider the opposite to be true.

"As of today,of the nonbinding Paris Accord and the draconian financial and economic burdens the agreement imposes on our country," Trump said at the June 1 news conference.

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He argued that the"Paris Climate Accord is simply the latest example of Washington entering into an agreement that disadvantages the United States to the exclusive benefit of other countries, leaving American workers — who I love — and taxpayers to absorb the cost in terms of lost jobs, lower wages, shuttered factoriesand vastly diminished economic production."

Scientists and other analysts have saidthe toll on the economy from rising sea levels, disaster relief from changing weather patterns and the loss of jobs in the renewable energy sector, among other considerations, could be much worse than jobs lost to regulations imposed by the accord.

In fact, many economic analysts say environmental regulations may actually boost the economy by spurringinnovation. They add that measures agreed upon under the Paris agreement by the Obama administration prevent harm that would end up costing the government in other ways.

What About Jobs in Renewable Energy?

While economists do believe the pullout will ,the decision to drop out of the international pact may impede the country's ability to financially capitalize on the global shift to renewable resources over time.

With the pullout, in innovative, renewable energy sources.

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While Trump saidadhering to the, China already employs more than 3.6 million people for renewables, which amounts to more than a third of the industry's global total. China says it will invest an additional $144 billion in solar projects and create another 13 million jobs to the sector by 2020. In addition, China plans to invest $100 billion in wind and $70 billion in hydropower, the Associated Press reported.

The idea that regulations will hurt jobs and the economy ,Jonathan Koomey, a lecturer in Earth Systems at the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences at Stanford University, told Live Science.

"In virtually every case that's been false," Koomey said.

Consider Healthcare Costs

Trump seems to forgetcurbing pollution actually helps the economy by keeping the U.S. workforce alive and healthy, scientists note.

A peer-reviewed study conducted by thein 2001 concluded the 1990 Clean Air Act prevented 160,000 premature deaths in 1990. In addition, the act prevented 86,000 emergency-room visits, 130,000 heart attacks,and 13 million lost days of work due tohealth issues . According to the study, the benefit-to-cost ratio was 30 to 1.

"Environmental pollution costs society money and it kills people," Koomey said. "So if you fix that problem, then society is better off."

One recent example of how climate change is affecting health care costs is the significant rise in tick-bourne Lyme Disease, which has across portions of the Midwest and East since 1996.

Rising Sea Levels Means Expensive Relocation

Should climate change continue on its current path, the cost to relocate U.S. communitieshit by rising sea levels could be staggering.

A for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN),,explored the impacts of ocean warming on ecosystems and species and on the everyday benefits humans enjoy from the ocean — its "goods and services."

The study noted the social, economic, moral and ecological impacts will be great unless something is done to halt the ever-increasing rise in the ocean's temperature, something the nearly 200 nations that signed the Paris Accord are attempting to do.

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changesays by 2100, 26 major U.S. cities will face an “" with seas rising as much as 32 inches. Well-known landscapes and monuments at risk includeCalifornia's iconic coast,New York's Statue of Liberty and Trump's own .

In February, a community of about 60 people in Louisiana was named as the first official climate refugees in the U.S.for the relocation of people in Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana, which is disappearing into the Gulf of Mexico.

That's for 60 people; an estimated 50 million to 200 million people are expected to be displaced by climate change by 2050, according to the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security and the International Organization for Migration.

Damage to Diplomatic Relations

There's also the quid pro quo aspect of international relations to consider. When Trump pulled out of the global agreement, he may have hurt the country's ability to seek cooperation from the diplomatic community in the future.

Roberton Williams, professor of economics at the University of Maryland and director of academic programs for Resources for the Future, a nonpartisan groupthat studied the Paris deal, before the announcement thatpulling out of the agreementcould hurt U.S. standing around the world.

"If we're not willing to cooperate with other countries on this, maybe next time we want them to cooperate with us, they won't be willing to do so," he said. "That could have very serious costs for the U.S. economy."

Ronald Reagan's Secretary of State George Shultz , noting that “global statecraft relies on trust, reputation and credibility, which can be all too easily squandered. … If America fails to honor a global agreement that it helped forge, the repercussions will undercut our diplomatic priorities across the globe.”

On Monday, Bolivia's Evo Morales attending the first ever United Nations Ocean Conference when he said the United States, one of the world's "main polluters," decided to leave the Paris agreement, "denying science, turning your backs on multilateralism and attempting to deny a future to upcoming generations."

This "has made (the U.S.) the main threat to Mother Earth and life itself," Morales said, as reported by the AP.

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