Nearly five years ago, world leaders gathered in Paris and agreed to collectively cut greenhouse-gas emissions. The US ratified that landmark climate accord in 2016, …
Nearly five years ago, world leaders gathered in Paris and agreed to collectively cut greenhouse-gas emissions. The US ratified that landmark climate accord in 2016, alongside almost every other nation. But on Wednesday, the US withdrew from Paris climate agreement — the only nation to ever do so. Because of processes established in the agreement, the exit took a year; the Trump administration officially notified the United Nations, which oversees the accord, of the US’s withdrawal on November 4,2019. Leaving means that American leaders will only be permitted to attend future climate negotiations as observers. (The agreement requires member nations to come together every five years to set new targets.) “The decision to leave the Paris Agreement has left the United States globally isolated in its defiance of scientific realities, and will cause real harm to people, the planet and the economy,” Rachel Cleetus, policy director for the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Climate and Energy Program, said in a statement. A tumultuous time to leave the agreement The US’s official departure from the accord came before the results of the presidential election were determined. However, Joe Biden has pledged that if he wins, the US would rejoin the agreement “on day one” of his term. The Trump administration, meanwhile, has consistently downplayed the threat of climate change, even during a year when millions of Americans were affected by record-breaking wildfires and the Atlantic saw its highest number of named storms ever.
