--- title: Paris Agreement: What to Know About the Climate Deal description: President Donald Trump has long threatened to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Here's what the accord actually is. canonical: https://time.com/4801344/paris-agreement-climate-deal-donald-trump/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-01T17:36:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T07:24:01.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: What to Know About the Paris Climate Agreement og:description: As President Trump threatens to withdraw from it og:url: https://time.com/4801344/paris-agreement-climate-deal-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddb1b161374d07b4/6988cfc98fd2ee56b1357518/climate-agreement-paris-trump-withdrawal-explainer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4141 og:image:height: 2329 og:image:alt: climate agreement paris trump withdrawal explainer og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What to Know About the Paris Climate Agreement twitter:description: As President Trump threatens to withdraw from it twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddb1b161374d07b4/6988cfc98fd2ee56b1357518/climate-agreement-paris-trump-withdrawal-explainer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What to Know About the Paris Climate Agreement > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=78de4c2f-5c33-40fb-b541-3163adc9b658&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 10 Days that Define the Obama Presidency: The Paris Accords [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Days that Define the Obama Presidency: The Paris Accords](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/RNoECeNp.m3u8) (3:10)  _Published 2017-01-18. As President Obama's two terms in office come to a close, TIME is taking a look back at the most pivotal moments of his presidency._  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Updated: Dec 13, 2023 7:24 AM UTCPublished: Jun 1, 2017 5:36 PM UTC  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Updated: Dec 13, 2023 7:24 AM UTCPublished: Jun 1, 2017 5:36 PM UTC President Donald Trump has long [threatened to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement](http://time.com/4799194/donald-trump-paris-climate-agreement/). After making it a campaign promise, he’s wavered on the issue but plans to announce his decision scheduled at 3 p.m. ET on Thursday. The prospect of withdrawing from the agreement has met opposition from policymakers, corporations, other countries and concerned citizens. As Trump prepares to address the public, here’s what you need to know about the deal itself. ### **What is the Paris Climate Agreement?** Participating countries agreed to the landmark Paris Climate Agreement in December 2015 with an [overarching mission](http://time.com/4146764/paris-agreement-climate-cop-21/): fighting climate change with the goal of keeping worldwide temperatures from rising more than 2°C (3.6°F) by 2100, the amount deemed irreversibly risky in terms of severe weather damage. The accord’s more ambitious goal would keep that temperature increase below 1.5°C (2.7°F). The deal was established as non-binding, and countries set their own goals to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The agreement was envisioned to derive its strength from the accountability countries would hold each other to — essentially, peer pressure — at the subsequent meetings. **Read More:** [What to Know About the Historic ‘Paris Agreement’ on Climate Change](http://time.com/4146764/paris-agreement-climate-cop-21/) The major requirement of the agreement is for countries to honestly report their progress towards their own goals every five years, when they must submit new ways to improve. The agreement also stipulates that, beginning in 2020, developed countries send $100 billion annually to developing countries that will be spent furthering progress in countering and adapting to climate change. President Obama’s administration [pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/climate/qa-the-paris-climate-accord.html) in the U.S. by 26–28% (based on 2005 levels) by 2025\. The White House had also agreed to give up to $3 billion to less wealthy countries before 2020. ### **Which countries participate in the Paris Climate Agreement?** The massive size of the agreement is what makes its effectiveness possible. The [195 countries](http://fortune.com/2017/05/31/paris-climate-agreement-trump-2/) that supported the agreement included developed and developing economies, marking the greatest global effort to curb the effects of climate change. The U.S. would be in the vast minority if Trump pulls out of the agreement — even conflict-torn or isolated countries such as Iraq and North Korea [signed up](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/05/31/why-nicaragua-and-syria-didnt-join-the-paris-climate-accord/?utm%5Fterm=.0e8278176130). Only two nations are not a part of the accord: Nicaragua and Syria. Both countries produce far less greenhouse gas emissions than the U.S. Nicaragua had, in fact, [refused to participate](http://time.com/4799844/nicaragua-paris-climate-agreement-countries/) because its envoys thought the voluntary participation and lack of consequences for not meeting goals did not go far enough in addressing the climate crisis. Syria, dealing with a civil war that has raged for seven years, was in the midst of considerably heavy fighting during the accord talks. Additionally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government was [under sanctions](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/05/31/why-nicaragua-and-syria-didnt-join-the-paris-climate-accord/?utm%5Fterm=.0e8278176130) from many participants at the time. ### **What happens if Trump pulls out of the accord?** Trump exiting the deal deliver a blow to its efficacy, as the U.S. is the [world’s second-largest polluter](http://time.com/4799404/paris-agreement-trump-withdrawal-climate/). Other countries have pledged to adhere to their goals in any event, but some people worry that the U.S. withdrawing would relax the sense of urgency for participants. **Read More:** [3 Major Costs of Withdrawing From the Paris Climate Agreement](http://time.com/4799404/paris-agreement-trump-withdrawal-climate/) Since the agreement itself is non-binding, nothing would actually happen to the U.S. in terms of official consequences. The accord has a formal withdrawal process that takes [four years](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/climate/qa-the-paris-climate-accord.html), and the government could re-join in the future if it wishes. But the environmental and economic effects would be significant. [The Rhodium Group predicts ](http://rhg.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/RHG%5FENR%5FTaking%5FStock%5F24May2017.pdf)that Trump’s policies will cause U.S. emissions to end up around 15-19% below 2005 levels by 2025, instead of Obama’s accord pledge of a 26-28% reduction. Pulling from the accord could also lead the U.S. miss out on worldwide investment opportunities in clean energy as other countries develop new technologies and create new jobs. ## Transcript Two weeks ago in Paris. I said before the world that we needed a strong, global agreement to accomplish this goal. An enduring agreement that reduces global carbon pollution and sets the world on a course to a low carbon future. A few hours ago, we succeeded. You have the Paris Climate Accords where you know, through rather complex and stepped framework, you had the world's leading powers all agreeing that they would take steps to try and bring down the production of carbon. Nobody really expected China to Wake up one morning, and [ UNKNOWN ] cap its own emissions. And over the course of several years of [ INAUDIBLE ] negotiation, the Whitehouse and the Chinese government developed a real partnership, areas of common ground. Yes, there are gonna be special [ UNKNOWN ] from developing countries, but the developed world will move first. Partly that was driven by how he said Issues of pollution and the domestic issue of the climate in China but also a desire within the United States but by the present to turn climate into a legacy issue in an area, that he thinks that in 20- 30 years he'll be remembered as a leader on. And my fellow leaders accepting this challenge will not reward us with Moments of victory that are clear or quick. Our progress will be measured differently in the suffering that is averted, and a planet that's preserved. Whereas President Bush had been pretty lateral in the way he approached things, President Obama Envisioned a far more multilateral, internationally agreed upon framework. And he sought to heal a lot of the animosity that existed in the world. He sought Quietly in his first term and then more aggressively in the second term to remake the US relationship with Cuba. And then the other big diplomatic effort he undertook, also in his second term, was to try and solve, at least for a time, the spread of nuclear weapons around the world. And this involved a multi year process of first Increasing sanctions, and really harming the economy of Iran, and then promising at the end that those sanctions could be released if the country agreed to essentially abandon for a time its nuclear research program, and allow inspectors to ensure that that was actually happening. But it really reset in a very dramatic way. The American relationship with Iran, which had been basically limited to animosity since the 1970s. I mean, the President's legacy internationally will certainly be defined by his desire to work with international partners, international agencies. On the negative side you end of things like Syria. Sort of the quagmire there where the desire to sort of not go it alone and foreign allies with different interests. Different self interests, different moral views on the issue that led to the US not really doing much of anything. That might be our most significant foreign policy failure But it comes from the same place as some of his greatest foreign policy achievements, and that's sort of the grand irony of the Obama foreign policy. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4801344/paris-agreement-climate-deal-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4801344/paris-agreement-climate-deal-donald-trump/"},"headline":"What to Know About the Paris Climate Agreement","datePublished":"2017-06-01T17:36:39.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T07:24:01.000Z","description":"As President Trump threatens to withdraw from it","url":"https://time.com/4801344/paris-agreement-climate-deal-donald-trump/","keywords":["Environment","2016 Election","climate change","White House","China","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddb1b161374d07b4/6988cfc98fd2ee56b1357518/climate-agreement-paris-trump-withdrawal-explainer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddb1b161374d07b4/6988cfc98fd2ee56b1357518/climate-agreement-paris-trump-withdrawal-explainer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"climate agreement paris trump withdrawal explainer","caption":"climate agreement paris trump withdrawal explainer","creditText":"Chesnot—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4801344/paris-agreement-climate-deal-donald-trump/","name":"What to Know About the Paris Climate Agreement"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"10 Days that Define the Obama Presidency: The Paris Accords","description":"As President Obama's two terms in office come to a close, TIME is taking a look back at the most pivotal moments of his presidency.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/RNoECeNp/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-01-18T17:06:34.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/RNoECeNp.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4801344/paris-agreement-climate-deal-donald-trump/","duration":"PT3M10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4801344/paris-agreement-climate-deal-donald-trump/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```