Donald Trump has vowed to exit the Paris Agreement for a second time. It’s a move that would pressure other countries to do more to reduce emissions, but it would also give big polluters a licence to slack off.
It would take a year for Trump’s next withdrawal to take effect, but in the meantime, he could begin ignoring commitments established by President Joe Biden.
Trump has called the idea of manmade climate change “a big hoax” and falsely claimed the world doesn’t have a warming problem. Fears over what could happen if he makes good on his withdrawal promise have mounted even as nations gathered for the UN Climate Change Conference COP29 in Azerbaijan, running throughout November.
UN Climate Change executive secretary Simon Stiell told the opening of the conference on Monday: “If at least two-thirds of the world’s nations cannot afford to cut emissions quickly, then every nation pays a brutal price. If nations can’t build resilience into supply chains, the entire global economy will be brought to its knees.”
Today we bring you a Paint by Numbers to break down the key figures associated with Trump’s climate policy plans.
Year the US joined the Paris Agreement, under then president Barack Obama: 2016
Year Trump said he would pull the US out of the Paris Agreement: 2017
Year Trump’s withdrawal formally came into effect: 2020
Year the US rejoined the Paris Agreement, under President Joe Biden: 2021
Year the US would pull out of the Paris Agreement a second time, according to Trump’s campaign team: 2025
Year the US Environmental Protection Agency was created: 1970
Proportion of US voters who told a 2024 survey that global warming was a very important issue to them: 37%
Number of natural disasters that have inflicted at least US$1 billion in damage in America so far in 2024: 24
Hottest year, globally, since records began being kept in 1850: 2023
Additional tonnes of CO₂ equivalent estimated to be contributed by a Trump-led rollback of Biden’s green policies, by 2030: 4 billion
Estimated cost of global climate damages caused by those extra 4 billion tonnes: US$900 billion
Additional tons of CO₂ equivalent estimated to be contributed by 2050: 25 billion
Estimated percentage by which US greenhouse gas emissions would fall below 2005 levels by 2030 after Trump’s reelection: 28%
US emissions reduction target by 2030 under the Paris Agreement: 50-52%
Global emissions reduction target under the Paris Agreement to keep global warming to no more than 1.5°C by 2030: 45%
Global emissions target under the Paris Agreement to keep global warming to no more than 1.5°C by 2050: net zero
Number of countries that had adopted net-zero pledges, as of June 2024: 107
Proportion of global greenhouse gas emissions those countries contribute: 82%
Estimated decrease in global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 under current climate plans: 2.6%
