{"id":93031,"date":"2021-02-20T07:44:23","date_gmt":"2021-02-20T12:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/?p=93031"},"modified":"2021-02-20T07:44:23","modified_gmt":"2021-02-20T12:44:23","slug":"auto-draft-510","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2021\/02\/20\/auto-draft-510\/","title":{"rendered":"US Rejoins Paris Climate Accord"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"VOA \u2014 U.S. President Joe Biden warned Friday that climate change is a \u201cglobal existential crisis\u201d that must be addressed, as the United States rejoined the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. \u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will all suffer \u2014 we will all suffer \u2014\u00a0the consequences if we fail,\u201d Biden told leaders at a virtual gathering of the Munich Security Conference.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to rapidly accelerate our commitments to aggressively curb our emissions and to hold one another accountable for meeting our goals and increasing our ambitions,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why as president I immediately rejoined the Paris Agreement, and as of today, the United States is officially once again a party to the Paris Agreement, which we helped put together.\u201d <\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s move reverses a Trump administration decision to leave the\u202fclimate\u202fpact\u202faimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions.\u202fThe former president was a supporter of the fossil fuel industry and often mocked clean renewable forms of energy, such as wind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2017, then-president Donald Trump announced the U.S. would pull out of the landmark agreement, saying it was in America\u2019s \u201ceconomic interest to do so.\u201d But terms for leaving the accord meant his decision did not go into effect until November 4, 2020 \u2013 one day after the U.S. presidential election won by Biden.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"President<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>
FILE – President Joe Biden signs a series of executive orders, in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, Jan. 28, 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 2015 Paris agreement, signed by virtually every country in the world, aims to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and limit the planet\u2019s temperature increase during this century to 2 degrees Celsius, while working to limit the increase even further to 1.5 degrees. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

On January 20, shortly after being sworn in, Biden signed a stack of executive orders, including the instrument to rejoin the Paris Agreement. It was sent to the United Nations, where treaties and agreements are \u201cdeposited\u201d with the secretary-general, and now, after a 30-day wait, the U.S. officially becomes a party to the agreement once again.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"FILE<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>
FILE – U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At a virtual event to mark Washington\u2019s return to the accord, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it is a \u201cday of hope,\u201d and good news both for the United States and the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the past four years, the absence of a key player created a gap in the Paris Agreement; a missing link that weakened the whole,\u201d he said of the Trump years when the U.S. did not engage on climate action. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the race of our lifetimes,\u201d Guterres added. \u201cWe must go much faster, and much farther.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Biden has committed to ambitious targets, including the U.S. achieving a 100% clean energy economy and reaching net-zero emissions no later than 2050.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He appointed former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry \u2013 who helped negotiate the Paris deal in 2015 \u2013 as the first-ever\u202fpresidential envoy on climate and made him a part of his National Security Council.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n