Joe Biden reaffirmed his commitment to immediately rejoining the Paris accord
On his campaign website, Biden has pledged not only to rejoin the agreement, but to lobby for greater international climate ambition.
“He will lead an effort to get every major country to ramp up the ambition of their domestic climate targets,” the site says. “He will make sure those commitments are transparent and enforceable, and stop countries from cheating by using America’s economic leverage and power of example.”
On Nov. 4, the U.S. officially left the Paris climate agreement, but its departure may be short lived.
The new elected Président Joe Biden who took the lead Friday morning in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania ,has reaffirmed his commitment to immediately rejoining the accord if he wins the 2020 presidential election /”Today, the Trump Administration officially left the Paris Climate Agreement. And in exactly 77 days, a Biden Administration will rejoin it,” Biden tweeted late Wednesday.
The two candidates have taken opposite stances on how to address the climate crisis.
Trump has repeatedly denied climate science and worked to roll back climate policies put in place by the Obama administration, including standards for power plant and vehicle emissions.
However, even if Biden rejoins the agreement, it may be difficult for other countries to trust U.S. leadership on the issue This is the second time the U.S. has helped to negotiate an international climate deal and then been unable to maintain support at home.
(The Clinton administration was not able to get the Senate to agree to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.)
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