Syria Announces It Will Join The Paris Agreement

BONN, GERMANY -- Today, Syria announced that it will join the Paris Agreement, leaving the United States as the only country in the world who has indicated that they will not to participate in the Accord. Under the Obama administration, the U.S. had helped lead negotiations, crafting the global agreement. The Trump administration is attempting to withdraw America from the agreement using incorrect statements and baseless claims about it as rational.

The Paris Agreement entered into force on Nov. 4, 2016, and according to the terms, no country can formally submit their intent to withdraw until three years after the date of entry into force. It will then take one year to fully withdraw, meaning the earliest the U.S. could officially withdraw is the day after the 2020 election.

In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune released the following statement:

“As if it wasn’t already crystal clear, every single other country in the world is moving forward together to tackle the climate crisis, while Donald Trump has isolated the United States on the world stage in an embarrassing and dangerous position. Trump’s desperate moves to help corporate polluters by refusing to acknowledge the reality of the climate crisis shows that he neither cares about leadership nor does he understand it. Thankfully, leaders in cities and states around the U.S. are taking action and committing to transitioning to 100 percent clean energy, proving that it’s not America that’s devoid of leadership, only the White House.”