US to Formally Abandon Paris Climate Deal, for Now

Bracewell’s Jeff Holmstead spoke with Law360 on the United States becoming the first and only member of the Paris Agreement on climate change to officially withdraw, a gesture he says “won’t be lost on the international community.”

“It’s politically significant, it’s symbolically significant,” said Holmstead. “It certainly has been one of the things that has soured the Trump administration’s relationship with a number of countries throughout the world, especially the European Union countries.”

President Donald Trump said in 2017 that he’d abandon the United Nations agreement, which aims to hold global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but because of the deal’s structure, it took another three years for the exit to become official. Despite the US technically being a member of the agreement for the past four years, the Trump administration has not taken any official policy actions designed to fulfill the country’s commitment.

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