Updated: November 5, 2020 2:30:22 pm
Students participate in a climate protest on Capitol Hill. (The New York Times: Ting Shen, file)
United States on Wednesday formally abandoned the Paris Climate Agreement, three years after President Donald Trump announced his intention to undo what had been seen as a key achievement of his predecessor Barack Obama.
On the same day, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who has expressed confidence in winning the 2020 election, announced that his administration (if elected), would rejoin the historic agreement in 77 days: January 20, 2021, the day the country’s next president takes office.
Today, the Trump Administration officially abandoned the Paris Climate Agreement. And in exactly 77 days, a Biden administration will join it. https://t.co/L8UJimS6v2
– Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 5, 2020
What is the Paris Agreement?
In December 2015, 195 countries signed an agreement to slow the process of global warming by making efforts to “keep the increase in global average temperature well below 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels and continue efforts to limit the increase in temperature to 1.5 degrees. ° C above pre-industrial levels ”.
This basically means that countries would try to limit the rise in global temperature. While poor countries and island states had called for a lower target considering threats from droughts and rising sea levels, climate experts have said maintaining a 2 degree rise will be a challenge in itself. The agreement entered into force on November 4, 2016.
Another crucial point of this agreement was the decision to limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activities to a level that can be absorbed naturally by trees, soils and oceans. Nations have committed to “achieving a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century.” Climate experts told The Guardian that this meant reaching “net zero emissions” between 2050 and 2100. According to the UN climate science panel, net zero emissions must be reached by 2070 to avoid dangerous warming.
Developed countries were also asked to provide financial resources to help developing countries cope with climate change and adopt adaptation measures. As part of a review mechanism, developed countries were also asked to report every two years the “indicative” amount of money they could raise over the next two years, and information on how much would come from public financial sources. Rather, developing countries have only been “encouraged” to provide such information every two years on a voluntary basis.
A key feature of the Paris Agreement has been the way in which the agreement reflects the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” (CBDR), which has been invoked four times in the CBDR principle. Emerging nations insisted that the developed world take greater responsibility for climate actions, as they are largely responsible for the emission of almost all greenhouse gases from about 1850 to the 1980s.
The agreement also includes a mechanism to address the financial losses faced by less developed nations due to the impacts of climate change such as droughts, floods, etc. However, developed nations will not face financial claims as it “does not involve or provide a basis for any liability or compensation.”
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Climate activists hold placards at a protest during the 2020 presidential election in Washington, DC, the United States, on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020 (Bloomberg Photo: Eric Lee).
So why did the United States abandon the Paris agreement?
During his 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump had described the Paris Agreement as “unfair” to the interests of the United States and had promised to withdraw from the agreement if elected. Trump had also tried to portray that election as a referendum on the policies of former President Obama, who had played a pivotal role in uniting the complex and far-reaching agreement.
Then, in June 2017, months after his inauguration, Trump announced his administration’s decision to quit the deal. Environmentalists fiercely criticized the move, saying that America’s exit would seriously jeopardize the agreement’s goal of keeping global temperature rise to within 2 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times, especially since America was (and still is) ) the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
However, the United States could not immediately exit the Paris Agreement, as United Nations rules allowed a country to request to exit three years after the agreement entered into force, that is, on November 4, 2019. The United States formally requested the exit that day, and the exit automatically took effect on November 4, 2020, at the end of a mandatory one-year waiting period. 📣 Express Explained is now on Telegram
Donald Trump got out of the Paris agreement; Joe Biden promised to rejoin. (AP Photo: Patrick Semansky, file)
If he wins, how can Joe Biden rejoin the Paris agreement?
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has long argued that the United States must commit to policies that address climate change, and during his campaign he proposed a $ 2 trillion spending plan that includes promoting clean energy and eco-friendly infrastructure. weather.
Biden announced Wednesday that following the election, his administration would rejoin the Paris treaty on his first day in office, January 20, 2021. To do so, the US would have to formally report to the UN Framework Convention on the United Nations on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the body that created the Paris agreement, on their intention to meet.
Thirty days after formally applying to the UNFCCC, the US would rejoin the Paris framework and be required to present its 2030 emission reduction targets.
A possible US re-entry into the WHO
In addition to the Paris agreement, a Biden administration is also expected to rejoin the World Health Organization, the UN health arm that has played a leading role for the world during the coronavirus pandemic. Trump had announced Washington’s intention to leave the WHO in May of this year after accusing the body of having undue deference to China.
In July, the United States formally informed the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, of its intention to leave, which, unless revoked by Biden, would take effect on July 6, 2021, after the end of a period. notice of one year.
The United States, a founding member of the WHO and its largest donor, has long had a strong influence on the organization. He has played a key role during the 2014 Ebola epidemic, the humanitarian response in Afghanistan and Iraq, fighting the HIV / AIDS epidemic, and efforts to eradicate polio and tuberculosis, among other achievements.
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