The U.S. is officially out of the Paris Agreement, a global climate pact that seeks to limit the Earth’s rising temperatures.
Trump moved to pull the U.S. from the global agreement on his first day in office. However, the withdrawal takes a year to go into effect and the United Nations said last year that the move would take effect on Jan. 27, 2026.
Trump’s move is largely symbolic, representing the U.S.’s broader move away from climate policy.
His administration has embraced planet-warming fossil fuels and eschewed renewable energy sources. It is also expected to soon repeal both a 2009 determination that said climate change posed a threat to the public and clean car regulations that go along with it.
Trump also withdrew from the Paris Agreement during his first time in office. Former President Biden rejoined the pact.
The Paris Agreement sets out the goal of limiting the increase in the world’s average surface temperature to well below two degrees celsius (3.6 degrees fahrenheit) with the further goal of keeping warming beneath 1.5 degrees celsius (2.7 degrees fahrenheit).
This time around, the U.S. is also separately seeking to exit a global climate treaty called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which calls for global collaboration on the issue.
Human activity is heating up the planet. This global warming exacerbates extreme weather by making some storms more intense, worsening heat waves and causing sea levels to rise as glaciers melt.
