{"slug":"trump-withdrawal-paris-climate-agreement","title":"Paris Climate Agreement Withdrawal: Abandoning International Climate Cooperation","date":"2017-06-01","lastUpdated":"2017-11-04","description":"On June 1, 2017, Trump announced the United States would withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement — the 2015 accord in which 196 countries committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit global temperature rise. The U.S. was the only country in the world that did not participate for the period of Trump's first term. The withdrawal delayed international climate action at a critical moment and emboldened other countries with large fossil fuel sectors to resist emission reduction commitments.","summary":"The Paris Agreement was the result of two decades of diplomatic effort to establish a global framework for addressing climate change. Trump withdrew citing economic impacts that were disputed by most economists, a commitment to the 'forgotten workers' of coal country, and a broader rejection of international cooperation he described as harmful to American sovereignty. Scientists and diplomats documented the withdrawal's immediate effect on global climate negotiations and the precedent it set for other countries.","category":"federal-dismantlement","severity":"extreme","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/climate/trump-paris-climate-agreement.html","title":"Trump Will Withdraw U.S. From Paris Climate Agreement","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2017/06/01/trump-paris-climate-accord/","title":"Trump announces U.S. withdrawal from Paris Climate Accord","publisher":"The Washington Post"},{"url":"https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40128816","title":"Paris climate agreement: Trump to withdraw United States","publisher":"BBC News"},{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/02/climate/american-climate-change.html","title":"How the Trump Withdrawal Could Affect Climate Change Progress","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/","title":"IPCC Special Report: Global Warming of 1.5°C","publisher":"Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["climate-change","Paris-Agreement","international-cooperation","first-term","federal-dismantlement","fossil-fuels"],"relatedEntries":[],"timeline":[{"date":"2017-06-01","title":"Trump announces withdrawal from Paris Agreement","summary":"In a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, Trump announces the U.S. will begin the withdrawal process from the Paris Climate Agreement. He describes the agreement as unfair to the United States and promises to renegotiate 'a new deal' — an offer all other parties immediately decline."},{"date":"2017-11-04","title":"Formal withdrawal notice sent to UN","summary":"The U.S. sends formal written notification of withdrawal to the UN. Under the Paris Agreement's terms, formal withdrawal cannot take effect until three years after the agreement entered into force — meaning the U.S. remains technically bound until November 4, 2020."},{"date":"2018-10-08","title":"IPCC warns of catastrophic consequences of 1.5°C warming","summary":"The IPCC releases a special report finding that limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels requires 'rapid and far-reaching' changes beginning no later than the early 2020s — a window that U.S. non-participation was already shortening."},{"date":"2020-11-04","title":"Withdrawal becomes official — the day after the election","summary":"U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement becomes legally effective on November 4, 2020 — one day after the presidential election that Trump loses. The United States is briefly the only country on Earth outside the Paris Agreement."},{"date":"2021-01-20","title":"Biden re-joins Paris Agreement on Day One","summary":"Biden signs an executive order re-joining the Paris Agreement on his first day in office. The U.S. formally rejoins in February 2021 — after a three-year absence."}],"location":{"name":"Washington, D.C.","lat":38.9072,"lng":-77.0369},"custom":{"era":"first-term","posture":"executive-action","warCrimeClassification":"enabling","internationalLaw":[{"statute":"Paris Agreement","article":"Articles 2, 4","provision":"Countries committed to holding the global average temperature increase to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit to 1.5°C; U.S. withdrawal undermined the collective framework at a critical implementation moment"},{"statute":"UN Framework Convention on Climate Change","article":"Article 3","provision":"Parties should protect the climate system for present and future generations and take precautionary measures to anticipate, prevent, or minimize the causes of climate change"}],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"Future generations facing worsened climate change impacts; Pacific Island nations, coastal communities, and regions facing immediate climate risks whose interests were abandoned; global climate negotiation framework weakened at a critical moment","structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"President of the United States","institution":"White House"},{"name":"Scott Pruitt","role":"EPA Administrator; promoted withdrawal","institution":"Environmental Protection Agency"},{"name":"Rex Tillerson","role":"Secretary of State; former ExxonMobil CEO","institution":"State Department"}],"updateLog":[{"date":"2020-11-04","summary":"Updated with formal withdrawal becoming effective on election day plus one."}]}}