Project II: Paris Agreement

The United States formally withdrew from the Paris Agreement on November 4, 2020, exactly one day after the 2020 presidential election. Although the Biden administration rejoined the agreement in early 2021, a new withdrawal notice was submitted on January 27, 2025, setting the next effective withdrawal date for January 27, 2026. Historically, the U.S. is responsible for approximately 25 percent of global cumulative CO₂ emissions since the industrial era. The European Union, including the United Kingdom, accounts for about 22 percent, followed by China at roughly 14 percent. Russia contributes around 6 to 7 percent, while Japan and India are responsible for approximately 4 percent and 3 percent, respectively. These figures highlight the outsized responsibility of a few major economies in shaping the climate crisis over the past centuries.

The Paris Agreement was a milestone, at least in the sense that nations were able to unite around a common goal: to keep global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. However, it is alarming that climate scientists have been issuing warnings about climate change since at least the late 1960s, and yet here we are today, watching its effects unfold rapidly before our eyes.