Good news for…. well, the world
Joe Biden has confirmed that he will rejoin the Paris climate accord on the first day of his presidency in the event that he defeats Donald Trump in the US presidential election.
America was initially a part of the climate change accord – a landmark international agreement – before president Trump formally withdrew the country from it three years ago. That withdrawal officially went through on Thursday.
Earlier today, Biden – who is just six electoral college votes away from reaching the 270 required to win the presidential election – took to Twitter to confirm that, should he win the election, he will rejoin the agreement on his first day, in “exactly 77 days”.
Today, the Trump Administration officially left the Paris Climate Agreement. And in exactly 77 days, a Biden Administration will rejoin it. https://t.co/L8UJimS6v2
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 5, 2020
The Paris accord was agreed by some of the world’s most powerful nations and economies in 2015, with the aim of keeping global temperature rises below 2 degrees by the end of the current century.
Trump, who has consistently shown scepticism regarding mankind’s impact on and responsibility for climate change, insisted that the accord would negatively affect the American economy and cost millions of jobs.
Throughout his presidency, he and his administration have been accused of undermining and degrading both public land in the United States, and the agencies tasked with protecting them.
Biden has made fighting climate change one of the tenets of his presidential election campaign, and the former vice president has pledged $1.7 trillion in federal investment towards clean energy and environmental justice.
