Trump Confirms US Will Pull Out Of Paris Climate Agreement

Confirming several accounts from Wednesday, today President Donald Trump confirmed that the US will indeed pull out of the Paris Agreement, breaking away from work done by the Obama administration on international climate negotiations. US is still the greatest carbon emitter per capita, and second to China in total emissions. US will be joining only Syria and Nicaragua on the list of countries not part of the agreement. 

The withdrawal of the US presents a wide range of challenges both diplomatically and in terms of global climate mitigation. "The US emissions reduction pledge accounts for a fifth of the global emissions to be avoided by 2030, with an analysis by not-for-profit group Climate Interactive showing that a regression to 'business as usual' emissions by the US could warm the world by an additional 0.3C by 2100. This would help push the global temperature rise well beyond 2C, causing punishing heatwaves, sea level rise, displacement of millions of people and the loss of ecosystems such as coral reefs."

Mayors, politicians, scientists, and activists have stepped out to criticize Trump's decision, and even Republicans are split on the effects of the move. Many states and cities are still expected to work on climate change, both in mitigation of carbon emissions and adaptations strategies, as will the rest of the world.