The article in the url below sets out the process by which the U.S. plans to leave the United Nations climate change agreement that it signed only four years ago:
"The Trump administration formally notified the United Nations on Monday that it would withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change, leaving global climate diplomats to plot a way forward without the cooperation of the world's largest economy."
This process was initiated yesterday when the current administration sent official notice of its intention to leave (something that was announced a couple of years ago, but could not legally begin until now – see Strategic CSR – Paris):
"The action, which came on the first day possible under the accord's complex rules on withdrawal, begins a yearlong countdown to the United States exit and a concerted effort to preserve the Paris Agreement, under which nearly 200 nations have pledged to cut greenhouse emissions and to help poor countries cope with the worst effects of an already warming planet."
Although this process cannot conclude until one day after the next presidential election (November, 2020) and would allow the U.S. to retain observer status to the ongoing negotiations, that does not mean a new administration would easily be able to rejoin the accord:
"Analysts cautioned that even if the United States elects a Democrat in 2020, re-entry will not necessarily go smoothly. The Paris Agreement is the second global climate change pact that the United States joined under a Democrat and abandoned under a Republican. George W. Bush withdrew the United States from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Jonathan Pershing, who served during the Obama administration as the State Department's special envoy for climate change, said a Democrat rejoining the Paris Agreement would likely be expected to deliver a specific suite of policies showing how the United States intended to move away from fossil fuels. Even then, he said, other countries would be rightly wary that the pendulum of support for climate action could swing back in another election cycle. The United States will have to live with that lingering mistrust, Mr. Pershing said. 'The United States has been written off in many cases as a partner,' he said. 'You just can't count on them.'"
Take care
David
David Chandler
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U.S. Gives Notice of Intent to Quit Paris Agreement
U.S. Gives Notice of Intent to Quit Paris Agreement
By Lisa Friedman
November 5, 2019
The New York Times
Late Edition – Final
A1, A7
