United States withdrawal from the Paris Agreement

Trump announcing the withdrawal during a press conference at the White House Rose Garden
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On June 1, 2017, US President Donald Trump announced that the United States would cease all participation in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation,[1][2] contending that the agreement would "undermine" the U.S. economy, and put the U.S. "at a permanent disadvantage".[3][4]

In accordance with Article 28 of the Paris Agreement, a country cannot give notice of withdrawal from the agreement within the first three years of its start date in the relevant country, which was on November 4, 2016, in the case of the United States. The White House later clarified that the U.S. would abide by the four-year exit process.[5] On November 4, 2019, the administration gave a formal notice of intention to withdraw, which takes 12 months to take effect. Until the withdrawal took effect, the United States was obligated to maintain its commitments under the Agreement, such as the requirement to continue reporting its emissions to the United Nations.[6] The withdrawal took effect on November 4, 2020, one day after the 2020 U.S. presidential election.[7]

Trump's decision to withdraw the U.S. was backed by many Republicans[8][9][10][11] but was strongly opposed by Democrats.[10][12][13] Trump's decision to withdraw was strongly criticized in the U.S. and abroad by environmentalists,[13][14] religious organizations,[15] business leaders,[16][17] and scientists.[14][18][19] A majority of Americans opposed withdrawal.[11]

Following Trump's announcement, the governors of several U.S. states formed the U.S. Climate Alliance to continue to advance the objectives of the Paris Agreement at the state level despite the federal withdrawal. As of July 1, 2019, 24 states, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico have joined the alliance,[20] and similar commitments have also been expressed by other state governors, mayors, and businesses.[6]

Trump's withdrawal from the Paris agreement impacted other countries by reducing its financial aid to the Green Climate fund.[21] The termination of the $3 billion U.S. funding ultimately impacted climate change research and decreased society's chance of reaching the Paris Agreement goals, as well as omitted U.S. contributions to the future IPCC reports.[22][23] Trump's decision also affected the carbon emission space as well as the carbon price.[24] The U.S.'s withdrawal also meant that the spot to take over the global climate regime was obtainable for China and the EU.[25]

Following the 2020 presidential election, President-elect Joe Biden vowed to rejoin the Paris Agreement on his first day in office.[26][27][28] On January 20, 2021, shortly after his inauguration, Biden signed an executive order to rejoin the agreement.[29][30] The United States formally rejoined the Paris Agreement on February 19, 2021, 107 days after the withdrawal took effect.

  1. ^ Chakraborty, Barnini (June 1, 2017). "Paris Agreement on climate change: US withdraws as Trump calls it 'unfair' to US". Fox News. Archived from the original on July 31, 2017. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  2. ^ Shear, Michael D. (June 1, 2017). "Trump Will Withdraw U.S. From Paris Climate Agreement". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 10, 2017. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
  3. ^ Smilowitz, Elliot (June 1, 2017). "Trump: We are getting out of Paris climate deal". The Hill. Archived from the original on June 5, 2017. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  4. ^ "Paris climate deal: Trump announces US will withdraw". BBC News. June 1, 2017. Archived from the original on June 1, 2017. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference PPG was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b "Bucking Trump, These Cities, States and Companies Commit to Paris Accord". The New York Times. June 1, 2017. Archived from the original on June 2, 2017. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
  7. ^ "Climate change: US formally withdraws from Paris agreement". BBC News. November 4, 2020. Archived from the original on November 4, 2020. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
  8. ^ Tom McCarthy & Lauren Gambino, The Republicans who urged Trump to pull out of Paris deal are big oil darlings Archived June 1, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian (June 1, 2017).
  9. ^ Andrew Prokop, Don't just blame Trump for quitting the Paris deal — blame the Republican Party Archived January 26, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, Vox (June 1, 2017).
  10. ^ a b Lisa Friedman, Staking Out Battle Lines, House Votes to Keep U.S. in Paris Climate Pact Archived December 27, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, New York Times (May 2, 2019).
  11. ^ a b Scott Clement & Brady Dennis, Post-ABC poll: Nearly 6 in 10 oppose Trump scrapping Paris agreement Archived June 5, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, Washington Post (June 5, 2017).
  12. ^ Where Democrats Stand: Should we rejoin the Paris Agreement? Archived January 11, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, Washington Post (2020).
  13. ^ a b Michael Edison Hayden, Democrats, environmentalists blast idea US could leave the Paris accord Archived February 4, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, ABC News (May 31, 2017).
  14. ^ a b Jeff Tollefson, It's official: Trump begins process to exit Paris climate agreement Archived November 24, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, Nature (November 4, 2019).
  15. ^ 25 Religious Organizations Express Disappointment on Paris Agreement Withdrawal Archived February 3, 2021, at the Wayback Machine (June 5, 2017).
  16. ^ Greenwood, Max (June 1, 2017). "GE head fires back at Trump: 'Climate change is real'". The Hill. Archived from the original on June 5, 2017. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  17. ^ Etherington, Darrell (June 2017). "Elon Musk leaving Trump advisory councils following Paris agreement withdrawal". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on June 1, 2017. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  18. ^ Jeff Tollefson& Quirin Schiermeier, How scientists reacted to the US leaving the Paris climate agreement Archived November 12, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, Nature (June 2, 2017).
  19. ^ "Editorial: In exiting Paris accords, President Trump squanders time and degrees". Detroit Free Press. Archived from the original on June 1, 2017. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  20. ^ "Illinois joins states committed to carbon-emission reduction". The Associated Press. January 23, 2019. Archived from the original on January 29, 2019. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  21. ^ Kemp, Luke (October 31, 2017). "Limiting the climate impact of the Trump administration". Palgrave Communications. 3 (1): 1–5. doi:10.1057/s41599-017-0003-6. ISSN 2055-1045.
  22. ^ Zhang, Yong-Xiang (December 1, 2017). "The withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Agreement and its impact on global climate change governance". Advances in Climate Change Research. 8 (4): 213–219. Bibcode:2017ACCR....8..213Z. doi:10.1016/j.accre.2017.08.005. ISSN 1674-9278.
  23. ^ Zhang, Hai-Bin (December 1, 2017). "U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement: Reasons, impacts, and China's response". Advances in Climate Change Research. 8 (4): 220–225. Bibcode:2017ACCR....8..220Z. doi:10.1016/j.accre.2017.09.002. ISSN 1674-9278.
  24. ^ Dai, Han-Cheng (December 1, 2017). "The impacts of U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on the carbon emission space and mitigation cost of China, EU, and Japan under the constraints of the global carbon emission space". Advances in Climate Change Research. 8 (4): 226–234. Bibcode:2017ACCR....8..226D. doi:10.1016/j.accre.2017.09.003. ISSN 1674-9278.
  25. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ Cite error: The named reference wapost biden rejoin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  27. ^ Cite error: The named reference guardian biden rejoin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  28. ^ "Biden to sign executive orders rejoining Paris climate accord and rescinding travel ban on first day". CNN. January 16, 2021. Archived from the original on January 17, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2021.
  29. ^ Davenport, Coral; Friedman, Lisa (January 20, 2021). "Biden Rejoins Paris Climate Agreement". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 20, 2021. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  30. ^ "Paris Climate Agreement". WH.gov. The White House. January 20, 2021. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved January 21, 2021.