With the US re-entering the Paris Climate Accord, what does that mean for the future of international climate policy? Tom Athanasiou explores this question and more in The Nation in his article “The US Returns to the Paris Agreement Today—With Lots of Work Ahead for the World.” You can read the full article here and an excerpt below.
As the United States reenters the Paris circle, a bit of reflection is in order. Scientists are terrified, and delivering messages that are difficult to hear, particularly now, when we have good reasons to doubt that our political systems will rise to the challenge. Despair, with the complacency it can breed, is a real danger. It’s easy to see why many people believe the accord’s weaknesses is more evidence of the larger institutional impotence.
In fact, though, the Paris Agreement can work, but the first crucial steps must be completed, soon. This year will bring the new emission reductions pledges. Finance breakthroughs will also have to come, and we have to face the new science (which, by the way, is not all dark). Then, in 2023, there will be the “global stock take,” in which the world’s nations will be asked if they’ve done enough.
Time to get to work.
