Latest in Paris Agreement
For the last 30 years, international negotiators have been seeking a lasting solution to climate change. Yet as the science gets clearer, an effective treaty regime remains elusive.
International law, developed over centuries of interactions among nations with leaders with egos and agendas at least as large as Donald Trump’s, has evolved precisely to ensure continuity among the community of states and to moderate the effect of major disruptions such as Trump’s recent announcement. If these mechanisms are utilized as intended by both domestic and international constituencies, the planet and the climate may yet survive Trump’s frontal assault.
Without the Paris Agreement, we are moving ever closer toward climate hell.
Perhaps McGahn, Pruitt, and others worry that judges could use the Paris Accord to push back against the EPA’s upcoming regulatory reforms. That's not an unreasonable concern.
President Trump’s campaign promise to “cancel” the Paris Agreement, and his subsequent statement that he has an “open mind” on the question, will now be transported to the multilateral stage in a setting of high politics.