Tag: Paris Climate Accords

Why the US rejoining the Paris climate accord matters at home and abroad — 5 scholars explain

The United States is formally back in the Paris climate agreement as of Feb. 19, 2021, nearly four years after former President Donald Trump announced it would pull out.

We asked five scholars what the U.S. rejoining the international agreement means for the nation and the rest of the world, including for food security, safety and the changing climate. Nearly every country has ratified the 2015 agreement, which aims to keep global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius. The U.S. was the only one to withdraw. 

What rejoining Paris means for America’s place in the world

Morgan Bazilian, Public Policy Professor and Director of the Payne Institute, Colorado School of Mines

Amanda Gorman, the National Youth Poet Laureate, wrote in her poem for U.S. President Joe Biden’s inauguration, “When day comes we step out of the shade.” That’s a good articulation of why the United States is now rejoining the Paris Agreement. 

Back in Paris pact, US vows no more sidelining of climate

The United States officially returned to the Paris global climate accord on Friday, and President Joe Biden and other U.S. leaders declared the nation could not afford to sideline the growing climate crisis again.

“We can no longer delay or do the bare minimum to address climate change. This is a global existential crisis, and all of us will suffer if we fail,” Biden told European leaders at a Munich security conference by video Friday.

“We’re back,” Biden said, renewing assurances the U.S. was back in global initiatives at large.

Officially, President Donald Trump’s removal of the nation from the worldwide global climate pact stood for only 107 days. It was part of Trump’s withdrawal from global allegiances in general and his often-stated but false view that ongoing global warming was a laughably mistaken take by the world’s scientists. Continue reading.

Biden recommits US to Paris climate accord

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President Biden on Wednesday took action to have the U.S. rejoin the Paris climate accord, following through on a campaign pledge to recommit to the Obama-era agreement on his first day in office.

The move reverses former President Trump’s withdrawal from the pact. For several months, the U.S. was the only country in the world that wasn’t a party to the accord.

“A cry of survival comes from the planet itself, a cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more clear,” Biden said in his inaugural address, listing “a climate in crisis” as one of the many challenges facing the U.S. Continue reading.

Acceptance on Behalf of the United States of America

I, Joseph R. Biden Jr., President of the United States of America, having seen and considered the Paris Agreement, done at Paris on December 12, 2015, do hereby accept the said Agreement and every article and clause thereof on behalf of the United States of America.

Done at Washington this 20th day of January, 2021.

JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.