U.S. Quits Paris Climate Agreement: Questions and Answers

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https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/04/climate/paris-climate-agreement-trump.html

Source: By Lisa Friedman. The New York Times. 

Excerpt: WASHINGTON — Au revoir, Paris Agreement. ...Ever since 2017, when President Trump announced his intention to abandon the pact, he’s spoken about withdrawal as if it was a done deal. In fact, however, pulling out of the Paris Agreement has been a lengthy process. On Nov. 4, 2019, the earliest possible day under United Nations rules that a country could begin the final withdrawal process, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo filed paperwork to do so. It automatically finalized a year later. So, as of Wednesday morning [Nov 4], the United States is officially no longer a part of the group of nations pledging to address climate change. ...Who’s still in, and what are they doing? Almost every country in the world. Of the 195 countries that signed the Paris Agreement, 189 went on to formally adopt the accord. Initially Nicaragua and Syria withheld their support from the pact but both eventually joined the agreement. As of Wednesday, in addition to the United States, the countries that originally signed but have not formally adopted the Paris Agreement are: Angola, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, South Sudan, Turkey and Yemen. So far, no other country has followed the United States in renouncing the Paris Agreement. At one point President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil threatened to do so but he later reversed course. ...Is the U.S. withdrawal final? No. Any future president could opt back in.... 

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