Biden Rejoins the Paris Climate Accord
Editor: Anita Newkirk Hackney
Global warming is a hot topic, literally. In 2020, the state of California had its worst wildfires in history. Now that President Biden is at the helm, he has tossed most of Trump’s policies out the window and has rejoined the Paris Agreement. Here’s an interesting question, what is the Paris Climate Accord?
The Paris Climate Accord is an international accord adopted in 2015, by nearly every nation to address the negative impacts of climate change. This agreement is a part of the commitment made from all major emitting countries to cut their ties with toxic substances such as fossil fuels, coal, oil and other emissions over time.
The problems with the agreement is it’s difficult to enforce, it impacts some energy-related jobs, and it may not go far enough to slow global warming. The pros about the agreement is that it opens new job opportunities for the United States. This means there will be newer jobs available to US citizens as the amount of toxic emissions continue to lower.
According to an Instagram post from CNN:
“The United States officially rejoined the landmark international accord to limit global warming known as the Paris Agreement on Friday. Hours after he was sworn-in on January 20, President Joe Biden signed an executive order beginning the 30-day process for the US to reenter the global pact. The US had officially exited the agreement late last year on former President Donald Trump’s orders, becoming the first and only country to formally pull out of the deal since it was adopted in 2015….”
Now that the nation has rejoined the Paris Climate Accord, what’s going to happen? The Biden Administration has mapped out a $2 trillion clean energy plan which will provide green jobs for American workers. Biden has also pledged to cut emissions from electricity to zero by 2035 and achieve a net-zero emissions by 2050.
With a slim majority in the House and the Senate, it will not be an easy feat to achieve. In order for Biden to get this clean energy plan to pass, he will have to work across the aisle with Congress, work with Congress without bipartisanship, or he could take executive action.
According to Rebecca Hersher from NPR:
“[. . .] Of nearly 200 nations that signed the agreement, the U.S. is the only one to walk away from its promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. [. . .] Trump originally announced his intention to withdraw from the landmark agreement in 2017 and formally notified the United Nations in 2019.”
When Trump took the reins from former President Obama, he not only took the United States off the Paris Agreement; but he also rolled back climate policies. Trump replaced the Clean Power Plan and lifted oil and natural gas extraction bans. Trump also permitted the Keystone XL pipeline to be constructed, but President Biden revoked this permit in his first 20 days in office. Due to immersing ourselves with these toxic emissions, we are facing the terrible consequences from using these elements. The ozone layer has a hole from these toxic emissions, and it has made states like California and Arizona more prone to wildfires.
In 2020, more than 2 million acres of land was set aflame across the state of California, which surpassed the number of wildfires in 2018. High temperatures and strong winds escalated the situation even more as the heat wave baked the southern regions of California and Death Valley (which reached 130 degrees, the highest temperature ever recorded on the planet).
Global warming is still a big issue especially now as we are still facing a pandemic. This can be clearly seen in California with the high number of positive covid cases and also suffering from wildfires. As the United States rejoins the Paris Climate Accord, we will have to follow the protocols. We will have to limit toxic emissions like the use of fossil fuels, coal, oil, and other emissions. What is your opinion? Let us know in the comments below.
