Current:Home > FinanceTrump’s Paris Climate Accord Divorce: Why It Hasn’t Happened Yet and What to Expect -FundTrack
Trump’s Paris Climate Accord Divorce: Why It Hasn’t Happened Yet and What to Expect
View
Date:2025-04-17 10:17:24
The Trump administration, which separated from the international community on climate change soon after taking office, filed for divorce on Monday by formally notifying the United Nations that it was withdrawing from the Paris climate accord.
Just as in a real break-up, the step was not surprising, and a long process lies ahead. Here are answers to some questions about what it all means.
Why make this announcement now?
When nations signed on to the Paris Agreement in 2015, agreeing to cut their greenhouse gas emissions enough to keep rising global temperatures in check, one of the provisions was that no nation would be permitted to exit the deal for three years.
Secretary of State Michael Pompeo’s announcement Monday of the formal U.S. retreat came on the first day that it was possible for the U.S. to make the move. The rules of the treaty also require an additional one-year waiting period for the withdrawal to be finalized—meaning it won’t be official until Nov. 4, 2020, one day after the presidential election.
Is the U.S. really cutting carbon emissions?
No. Pompeo suggested that the U.S. carbon footprint is dropping in his announcement, pointing to the 13 percent decline in carbon emissions from 2005 to 2017. But that doesn’t count what has been happening since the Trump administration began rolling back climate-related policies.
Official government figures won’t be available until April, but the consulting firm Rhodium Group estimates that in 2018, as Trump policies took hold, emissions increased 3.4 percent, reversing three consecutive years of decline. And the U.S. Energy Information Administration, basing its forecast on current U.S. policies, projected earlier this year that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions would hold steady through 2050—a disastrous course for the planet.
How are other countries responding?
Two things seem apparent—an increasing role for China and a shortfall in ambition.
The United States has left a huge void by backing away from the Paris process. Not only is the U.S. the largest historic contributor of atmospheric carbon emissions, it is the country that helped shape the approach that broke the logjam between the developed and developing nations to pave the way for the treaty.
China, currently the largest carbon emitter, has stepped into the void—co-chairing discussions and helping to shape the technical rules for the accord. However, at the UN Climate Summit in New York in September, it became clear that the world’s major polluters, including China, have not made the needed moves to increase their commitments.
Does this mean the U.S. is out of Paris for good?
A future administration could rejoin the treaty with a mere 30-day waiting period. All of the Democratic presidential candidates say they are committed to returning to the fold and raising the ambition of U.S. commitments.
In the meantime, state and local leaders who are committed to climate action—the “We are Still In” coalition—announced Monday that they plan to send a small delegation to climate talks in Madrid in December. Their goal: “to build connections, strengthen partnerships, and find opportunities to advance American interests and collaborate with one another to tackle the climate crisis.”
veryGood! (42934)
Related
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- Kenyan man shatters world record at the 2023 Chicago Marathon
- A former Goldman Sachs banker convicted in looting 1MDB fund back in Malaysia to help recover assets
- Targeting 'The Last Frontier': Mexican cartels send drugs into Alaska, upping death toll
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- Why Travis Kelce Could Be The 1 for Taylor Swift
- Rio de Janeiro’s security forces launch raids in 3 favelas to target criminals
- The Marines are moving gradually and sometimes reluctantly to integrate women and men in boot camp
- New Zealand official reverses visa refusal for US conservative influencer Candace Owens
- An Alabama city says a Mississippi city is dumping homeless people; Mississippi city denies misdeeds
Ranking
- Brianna LaPaglia Reveals The Meaning Behind Her "Chickenfry" Nickname
- Colorado scores dramatic win but Deion Sanders isn't happy. He's 'sick' of team's 'mediocrity.'
- Is Indigenous Peoples' Day a federal holiday? What to know about commemoration
- Simone Biles finishes with four golds at 2023 Gymnastics World Championships
- Former longtime South Carolina congressman John Spratt dies at 82
- Can cooking and gardening at school inspire better nutrition? Ask these kids
- Students building bridges across the American divide
- Remnants of former Tropical Storm Philippe headed to New England and Atlantic Canada
Recommendation
'Most Whopper
John Cena: Last WWE match 'is on the horizon;' end of SAG-AFTRA strike would pull him away
A former Goldman Sachs banker convicted in looting 1MDB fund back in Malaysia to help recover assets
Fantasy football rankings for Week 5: Bye week blues begin
Nearly half of US teens are online ‘constantly,’ Pew report finds
Rio de Janeiro’s security forces launch raids in 3 favelas to target criminals
Hamas attack at music festival led to chaos and frantic attempts to escape or hide
Israeli hostage crisis in Hamas-ruled Gaza becomes a political trap for Netanyahu