At a rose garden ceremony on June 1, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump declared his intention to pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Trump reasoned that adhering to the goals of the accord, which was designed to control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, would have negative effects on job growth, hinder manufacturing, and bring about dramatic declines in the coal mining, natural gas, steel, and cement industries. He also noted that the agreement placed unfair standards on American efforts to curtail greenhouse gas emissions while it allowed developing countries, such as China and India in particular, a wider latitude to achieve their own climate goals. Near the end of his speech, Trump left open the possibility that he could renegotiate the agreement to get the United States a better deal that serves the country’s interests:
“So we’re getting out. But we will start to negotiate, and we will see if we can make a deal that’s fair. And if we can, that’s great. And if we can’t, that’s fine.”
However, many political pundits and analysts have noted that while former president Barack Obama committed to curtailing U.S. carbon dioxide emissions by between 26 and 28 percent of 2005 levels by 2025, the United States was not limited in how it achieved these goals. They also noted that while countries bound themselves and committed to the agreement, the agreement itself had “no teeth”—that is, there were no punishments for missing their climate goals.
The Paris Agreement, which was designed to control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, was the centerpiece of the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which took place in Paris, France, in December 2015. Although that event was heralded as a watershed moment in how human beings interacted with Earth’s atmosphere, it was only the first step in a long process designed to hold countries accountable for their emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases. By Earth Day 2016 (that is, April 22nd), at the conclusion of a formal signing ceremony hosted by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in New York City, 174 countries signed the agreement. Over the next 13 months, 21 additional countries signed on and 147 ratified it. The agreement came into force on November 4, 2016.
America’s formal exit from the Paris Agreement requires more than a declaration from the White House rose garden. Trump’s decision is considered largely symbolic, because it will take four years to complete, and the country’s formal departure would wrap up on November 4, 2020, the day after the next U.S. presidential election. Nevertheless, Trump’s announcement is a harsh blow to world morale (and to the enthusiasm associated with a rising sense of global community around this topic). Although many of the world’s other leaders have expressed their disappointment with Trump’s decision, they have also underscored their commitment to solving the problem of global warming, with or without American participation. In addition, a coalition of U.S. states (led by the governors of the states of Washington, California, and New York), along with a similar coalition of dozens of the country’s major urban cities, quickly announced that they would maintain their commitments and support for the Paris Agreement.
To date there are only two other countries that have not yet signed on to the Paris Agreement: Syria and Nicaragua. Syria, which remains in the throes of a destructive civil war, noted that it was not in a position to sign such agreements because of ongoing sanctions from Western countries. The government of Nicaragua, however, refused to sign on for different reasons. Nicaragua believes that the Paris Agreement does not go far enough to reduce emissions, arguing that wealthy countries such as the United States should have been forced to make deeper commitments.
