On the very first day of assuming the office of the President of the United States (US), Joe Biden, on January 20, 2021 signed an executive order to have the US rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement. The rejoining of a country after its exit from Paris Agreement is straightforward. Once the country gives its consent letter to re-enter the agreement, then after a 300-day period the country is re-inducted into the pact.
The outgoing US President, Donald Trump, had in June 2017 declared the intention of the US government to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. In this regard, a written notification was sent to the United Nations in November 2019. A country has to wait for one year before formally withdrawing from the agreement. The US exited the agreement on November 4, 2020.
Even after withdrawal, the US could still attend negotiations and give opinions; however, it could do so only as an ‘observer’. After the exit, the president stated that he intended to renegotiate the details of the US membership within the Paris Agreement to protect US workers in industries like coal, paper, and steel.
It was in 2016 that the then President of the USA, Barrack Obama, signed the Paris Agreement. His administration took actions, such as setting stricter fuel economy standards for vehicles, besides setting out a Climate Action Plan that outlined systematic emission reductions for almost every sector of the economy. The target was to reduce emissions levels by 26-28 per cent by 2025 from the levels of 2005.
As soon as Donald Trump took over as the President of the USA, he immediately ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to scrap the Clean Power Plan. Trump felt that the Paris Agreement was unfair to US interests and was too expensive. He said that the agreement was economically detrimental and claimed it could cost the US 2.5 million jobs by 2025. It was then replaced with the Affordable Clean Energy rule. Despite Trump’s efforts, the emission standards of US started posing more problems. The US is the second leading producer of all carbon dioxide emissions globally, behind China.
Paris Climate Agreement: Main Features
The Paris Climate Agreement is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It was adopted by 196 countries at the Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris in December 2015 and came into force on November 6, 2016. The agreement marked a historic turning point for global climate action. Under it, world leaders of the representing nations arrived at a consensus to combat climate change and adapting to its impacts.
It urged for global action to limit greenhouse gas emissions to levels that would prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2 °C above the level before the Industrial Revolution. The agreement created a clear framework for all the countries to make commitments to emission reduction and strengthen those actions over time.
The pact provides a pathway for developed nations to assist developing nations in their climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. It creates a framework for the transparent monitoring, reporting, and ratcheting up of countries’ individual and collective climate goals.