In response to the following week`s withdrawal, the governors of California, New York and Washington created the U.S. Climate Alliance and promised to keep the Paris Agreement within their borders. [74] [75] On the evening of June 1, 2017, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Oregon, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia announced their intention to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement with members of the United States Climate Alliance. Governors of other states have also expressed interest in complying with the agreement. [76] [77] [78] As of November 2020, the Alliance had 24 states, as well as Puerto Rico and American Samoa. [79] [80] President Obama was able to formally integrate the United States into the international agreement through executive measures, as he did not impose new legal obligations on the country. The United States already has a number of instruments in its books, in line with laws already passed by Congress, to reduce carbon pollution. The country formally acceded to the agreement in September 2016, after presenting its proposal for participation. The Paris Agreement can only enter into force if at least 55 countries representing at least 55% of global emissions have formally acceded to it. This was done on October 5, 2016 and the agreement entered into force 30 days later on November 4, 2016. “These agreements are just the obligations of each country,” Light says. Following the president`s announcement in 2017, a number of states and companies have pledged to further reduce carbon emissions and try to balance the federal government`s decision to move away from the U.S. Paris commitment.

On June 1, 6, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the United States was suspending all participation in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change and would begin negotiations to revive the agreement “on fair terms for the United States, its businesses, workers, citizens, taxpayers” or to form a new agreement. [1] In withdrawing from the agreement, Mr. Trump declared that “the Paris Agreement is being undermined (the American economy)” and “permanently penalizes the United States”. [2] [3] Trump said the withdrawal would be in line with his America First policy. This delay is due to the complex rules that have been incorporated into the Paris Agreement to deal with the possibility for a future US president to decide to withdraw the country from the agreement. “Simply put, the U.S. should stay with the other 189 parties to the deal and not go out alone.” So far, only two other countries have not yet signed the Paris Agreement: Syria and Nicaragua.

Syria, still in the grip of a destructive civil war, noted that it was unable to sign such agreements due to the relentless sanctions imposed by Western countries. The Nicaraguan government, however, refused to sign for various reasons…