Biden Pledges To Rejoin Paris Climate Agreement

“Today, The Trump Administration officially left the Paris Climate Change Agreement,” tweeted President-elect Joe Biden on November 4, 2020. “And in exactly 77 days, a Biden Administration will rejoin it.”

- By Ronald Bailey

On April 22, 2016—Earth Day—then– President Barack Obama signed the Paris accord, treating it as an executive agreement rather than a treaty requiring Senate approval. Recognizing that unabated man-made climate change would likely become a significant problem for humanity as the century advances, the Paris Agreement aims to limit the increase of global average temperature to less than 2 degrees Celsius above its pre-industrial level. Under the agreement’s provisions, signatories submit their plans, called nationally determined contributions (NDC), to the United Nations. The pledges are voluntary and nonbinding.