President Donald Trump says he will pull the US out of the Paris climate accord and seek to renegotiate the agreement. Here are some key points about his likely options and what difference they might make to climate change.
What is the Paris agreement?
In December 2015, 195 nations including Australia signed an agreement to keep global temperature rises to "well below 2 degrees" compared to pre-industrial levels. It was deliberately not a treaty in recognition that then-US president Barack Obama would not be able to secure Republican-controlled Senate approval for such an instrument. Each nation offered voluntary "nationally determined contributions" to curb greenhouse gas emissions versus business-as-normal pollution, mostly out to 2030.The agreement came into force in November 2016 when 55 nations, accounting for 55 per cent of emissions, ratified the accord. (Some 147 nations have now done so.)
Read Peter Hannam’s explanation in today’s Melbourne Age - “Paris explainer: What if Trump pulls US out of global climate agreement.”
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