Trump announced in June 2017 his intention to pull the US out of the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change, a promise fulfilled the day after last week’s election. Trump famously tweeted in 2012 that climate change was a hoax invented by China designed to make US manufacturing uncompetitive, and repeatedly cast doubt on the basic science of climate change. He committed to rejoining the Paris Agreement, and to integrating climate change into the US’s foreign policy and national security strategies. He pledged a $2 trillion investment to combat climate change, with a strong focus on job creation. This matters beyond Trump’s specific decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement because the international climate regime is based on trust.

Source: The Irish Times November 16, 2020 01:01 UTC