President Trump could kill the Paris Agreement - but climate action will survive.

November 9 will likely become the day that the Paris Agreement died, but not when the goal of limiting warming to 2℃ slipped out of reach.

President Donald Trump can, and likely will, drop out of the Paris climate agreement. Direct withdrawal will take four years.

But Trump could instead drop out from the overall climate convention under which the agreement operates. That would only take one year and would result in automatic withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.

It would shortcut any hopes that Paris would bind Trump’s hands for some time.

As I’ve argued in my research, a US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement would be its death knell.

 

Read the thoughts of a Lecturer in International Relations and Environmental Policy at the Australian National University, Luke Kemp, on The Conversation -  “President Trump could kill the Paris Agreement - but climate action will survive.”