We’ll Always Have Paris: Climate Diplomacy at the Dawn of the Biden Era
On November 4, 2020, as Americans waited on the results of the previous day’s presidential election, the United States formally withdrew from the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (“the Paris Agreement”).[1] President-Elect Joe Biden has announced his intention to rejoin the Paris Agreement the day he enters office.[2] However, this formality is merely the first step toward rebuilding American climate policy and restoring the United States’ reputation in the international community.
President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement more than three years prior to the formal withdrawal date.[3] Safeguards in the terms of the Paris Agreement had prevented the United States from formally withdrawing any sooner.[4] In fact, this reversal in U.S. climate change policy was not without precedent. The Clinton administration was instrumental in putting together the predecessor to the Paris Agreement, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, but the Bush administration subsequently withdrew from it in 2001.[5]
By the time the United States formally withdrew from the Paris Agreement, though, the damage to the United States’ international standing was already done. When President Trump first announced his intention to withdraw, the decision was widely and harshly criticized by world leaders.[6] This decision has left the United States out of step with nearly the entire international community. One hundred eighty-nine countries have ratified the Paris Agreement, and the United States is the only one to have withdrawn.[7] The United States is currently halfway to meeting President Barack Obama’s goal of cutting emissions about 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, but with changes to federal environmental policy under the Trump administration, the country is no longer on track to meet that goal.[8]
The Biden administration will have to do more than reverse the Trump administration’s decisions and policies, not only to meet its own domestic climate change goals, but also to support the continued viability of the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement lacks enforcement mechanisms, and instead is modeled on mandatory transparency about emissions.[9] As such, public pressure is key to monitoring compliance, because negative reputational impact would be the primary repercussion for a violation.[10] The transparency framework outlined in Article 13 sets the framework for public accountability, which is the primary compliance mechanism and therefore the backbone of the Paris Agreement.[11] By withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and reneging on its emissions commitments, the United States has ceded its role as an international leader on climate change, and will rejoin the Paris Agreement with diminished credibility and diminished power to hold other countries accountable.
The strongest signal that the Biden administration is committed to rebuilding its international standing is its appointment of John Kerry as a special presidential envoy for climate, a new cabinet-level position.[12]As Secretary of State under President Obama, Kerry was instrumental in the creation of the Paris Agreement, and he has been involved in climate diplomacy for decades.[13]If the Biden administration demonstrates the United States’ renewed commitment to the international community by implementing more aggressive domestic climate policy and by empowering Kerry to rebuild diplomatic trust, the United States can return to its leadership position and help avert climate catastrophe under the Paris Agreement framework.
Jack Klein is a staff member of Fordham International Law Journal Volume XLIV.
This is a student blog post and in no way represents the views of the Fordham International Law Journal.
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[1] See Chile, France, Italy, U.K. and U.N. Climate Change, Joint Statement on the U.S. Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Nov. 4, 2020), https://unfccc.int/news/joint-statement-on-the-us-withdrawal-from-the-paris-agreement.
[2] See Christopher Brito, Joe Biden Vows to Rejoin the Paris Climate Deal on First Day of Office if Elected, CBS News (Nov. 5, 2020, 12:26 PM), https://www.cbsnews.com/news/paris-climate-accord-biden-rejoin-president/.
[3] See Donald J. Trump, Statement by President Trump on the Paris Climate Accord, WhiteHouse.gov (June 1, 2017), https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-president-trump-paris-climate-accord/.
[4] See Paris Agreement Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change art. 28, Apr. 22, 2016, T.I.A.S. No. 16-1104 [hereinafter Paris Agreement].
[5] See Riley Beggin, The Last Time a U.S. President Dumped a Global Climate Deal, ABC News (June 1, 2017, 4:42 PM), https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/time-us-president-dumped-global-climate-deal/story?id=47771005.
[6] See Kayla Clark, Note, The Paris Agreement: Its Role in International Law and American Jurisprudence, 8 Notre Dame J. Int’l & Compar. L. 2, 128-29 (2018).
[7]See Paris Agreement, U.N. Treaty Collection (Nov. 25, 2020), https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVII-7-d&chapter=27&clang=_en; see also Lisa Friedman, U.S. Quits Paris Climate Agreement: Questions and Answers, N.Y. Times (Nov. 4, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/04/climate/paris-climate-agreement-trump.html.
[8] See Friedman, supra note 7.
[9] See Rafael Leal-Arcas & Antonio Morelli, The Resilience of the Paris Agreement: Negotiating and Implementing the Climate Regime, 31 Geo. Env’t. L. Rev. 1, 3 (2018).
[10] See id. at 22.
[11] See Paris Agreement, supra note 4, art. 13.
[12] See Lisa Friedman, With John Kerry Pick, Biden Selects a ‘Climate Envoy’ With Stature, N.Y. Times (Nov. 23, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/climate/john-kerry-climate-change.html.
[13] See Leslie Hook, Katrina Manson & Derek Brower, Biden Focuses on U.S. Climate Diplomacy with Key Role for John Kerry, Fin Times (Nov. 24, 2020), https://www.ft.com/content/31d93942-6481-4e64-ba85-a6871a142862.