The United States officially left the Paris Agreement, a deal seeking to unite the nations of the world on climate change, on Wednesday.
Fox News reported that the long-anticipated move by President Trump does not immediately impact global efforts to combat global warming.
Adopted in 2015, almost 200 countries initially participated in the agreement which aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions, keep worldwide temperatures “well below” 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit and to review each participating country’s contribution to cutting emissions.
The accord also hopes “to limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity to the same levels that trees, soil and oceans can absorb naturally, beginning at some point between 2050 and 2100,” BBC News reported.
Around 189 countries are still dedicated to the agreement, including the element that rich nations should help poorer countries by “providing ‘climate finance’ to adapt to climate change and switch to renewable energy.”
Some scientists believe increasing temperatures could lead to rising sea levels, tropical storms, drought, and floods causing devastation in many countries throughout the world.
Countries signed on to the Paris accord are required to set their own goals for reducing greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. Nations are expected to accurately chronicle their efforts.
Fox News reported that China is the largest emitter of gases like carbon dioxide, known for trapping in heat. Recently, China, Japan, and South Korea joined the European Union and a number of additional countries in creating national deadlines to prevent more greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere.
According to a statement by President Trump, the Paris Agreements fell on the backs of the American taxpayers who absorbed “the cost in terms of lost jobs, lower wages, shuttered factories, and vastly diminished economic production.”
“…in order to fulfill my solemn duty to protect America and its citizens, the United States will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord,” President Trump said. “[The United States will] begin negotiations to reenter either the Paris Accord or a really entirely new transaction on terms that are fair to the United States, its businesses, its workers, its people, its taxpayers. So, we’re getting out. But we will start to negotiate, and we will see if we can make a deal that’s fair. And if we can, that’s great. And if we can’t, that’s fine.”
Democrat candidate for president Joe Biden said he would rejoin the Paris Agreement if he wins the White House.
