On the 5th Anniversary of the Paris Agreement, World Looks to Biden Administration to Reinvigorate U.S. Climate Leadership

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Five years ago tomorrow, the Paris Climate Agreement was reached among 195 countries to limit further increase in global temperatures and stave off the worst effects of the climate crisis. Just last month, the Trump Administration completed the process to formally withdrawal the U.S. from the agreement. 

However, President-elect Biden has recognized that climate change is the  “number one issue facing humanity” and has committed to rejoining the Paris Agreement on day one of his presidency. The U.S. will legally re-enter 30 days later. Biden has selected former Secretary John Kerry, who originally signed the Agreement in 2016, to serve as his climate envoy, — signaling the new Administration’s commitment to restoring the U.S.’s global leadership in addressing the climate crisis. 

In response, Cherelle Blazer, Senior Director of the Sierra Club’s International Climate and Policy Campaign, said:

“Donald Trump’s mocking of climate science, his ludicrous proposal to ‘renegotiate’ the Agreement, and his ultimate withdrawal from the deal have been both a national embarrassment and a pointless waste of precious time as the climate crisis has become increasingly dire. America and the world are looking to President-elect Biden and his administration to quickly reenter the Paris Agreement on day one and begin to implement real and ambitious solutions to meet its goals. With Trump having abandoned our allies in the global fight against the climate crisis over the last four years, the Sierra Club is calling on the Biden Administration to match the European Union’s newly strengthened climate targets by aiming to reduce  U.S. emissions by at least 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. ”