The United States became the first and only nation to withdraw from the Paris climate accord on Wednesday, even as the outcome of the presidential race remained unknown.
The nation’s formal exit from the global effort to combat climate change — a departure set in motion by President Trump more than three years ago — marked the only sliver of certainty in a sea of ambiguity about the future trajectory of U.S. climate and environmental policy.
If Trump were to eke out a victory, the U.S. government would all but vanish from international efforts to slow the Earth’s warming, in favor of promoting fossil fuels. Democratic nominee Joe Biden has called climate change “the existential threat to humanity” and vowed to immediately rejoin the Paris accord if elected. But even if he wins the White House, his plan to invest trillions of dollars toward making the United States a greener nation will face a deeply divided Congress. Continue reading.