Following its earlier announcement, United States has legally left the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement despite climate change being an issue of importance in the elections.
On June 1, 2017, United States President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would cease all participation in the Paris deal on climate change mitigation and begin negotiations to re-enter the agreement “on terms that are fair to the United States, its businesses, its workers, its people, its taxpayers,” or form a new agreement.
In accordance with Article 28 of the Paris Agreement, a country cannot give notice of withdrawal from the agreement before three years of its start date in the relevant country, which was on November 4, 2016 in the case of the United States. On November 4, 2019, the administration gave a formal notice of intention to withdraw, which takes 12 months to take effect.
The next four years play a critical role in the fight to tackle the climate crisis. The United States is the second-largest emitter worldwide and its promised emissions cuts accounted for about 20 percent of global reductions. The US directly subsidizes the fossil fuel industry approximately US$20 billion per year.
In their joint statement, Chile, France, Italy, UK and UN Climate Change said: “There is no greater responsibility than protecting our planet and people from the threat of climate change. The science is clear that we must urgently scale up action and work together to reduce the impacts of global warming and to ensure a greener, more resilient future for us all.
“The Paris Agreement provides the right framework to achieve this. Our efforts must include support for those countries and communities at the frontline of climate change. It is vital that we take renewed action to hold the temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius and take best efforts to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“On December 12, we will be celebrating the five-year anniversary of the Paris Agreement. We must ensure that it is implemented in full. We note with regret that the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement has formally come into effect today. As we look towards COP26 in Glasgow, we remain committed to working with all US stakeholders and partners around the world to accelerate climate action, and with all signatories to ensure the full implementation of the Paris Agreement.”
