America and Global Warming: Accelerate Progress by Returning to Agreement

America has officially withdrawn from the Paris Agreement on international rules for addressing global warming. But president-elect Joe Biden has indicated his intention to return to the Paris Agreement immediately after his inauguration next January.

Although America has abandoned its responsibility to reduce greenhouse gases, it has not been able to escape weather crises. We welcome the incoming Biden administration’s revision of the nationalism of the Donald Trump era and the return to international agreements on moving away from carbon.

The earth’s average temperature has increased by one degree since the Industrial Revolution. Under current conditions the increase will be over three degrees by the end of the century, and abnormal weather and the damage from natural disasters will worsen.

To avoid a crisis, the rise in temperature must be kept to 1.5 degrees and to achieve that, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions must be kept to net zero until 2050 by absorbing them with forests. Nearly 190 countries and regions signed the Paris Agreement; this is why we are working toward emission reduction.

But when Donald Trump was inaugurated president in 2017, he announced a withdrawal from the agreement. Last November he announced this to the U.N., made preparations and, after a year, formally withdrew.

Trump turned his back on a global warming policy, because he loathes the blow to his country’s economy that continuing emission reduction would bring. When he announced his withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, he pointed to China and India and claimed that “the Paris Accord is very unfair, at the highest level, to the United States.”

These are all selfish complaints, and they remarkably lack the self-confidence of a leader of a global power.

For starters, not only are America’s current emissions second only to China’s, but the total amount of carbon dioxide it has emitted in the past far exceeds any other country. There is no question that it is in a position where it should take the initiative and strive to reduce its emissions.

Biden seems to recognize this responsibility. During the presidential elections, he made climate change policies part of his promises. The new administration will move away from carbon again.

In fact, even under the current Trump administration, many authorities and firms are involved in climate change measures under the slogan, “We Are Still In [the Paris Agreement].” For example, California will sell only those cars without exhaust gas, like electric cars, after 2035, and Apple and Microsoft are trying to use only electricity from renewable energy.

Meanwhile, the sense of crisis about climate change is building across the world, and over 120 countries have proclaimed zero net emissions by 2050. Very recently, China has announced that it aims for net zero by 2060, with Japan and South Korea aiming the same by 2050.

We hope that with America’s return to the agreement, the world’s move away from carbon will accelerate.