It is a hopeful event in the fight against the climate crisis. On Friday February 19, the United States officially reinstated the Paris climate agreement, just over three months after leaving it under the leadership of Donald Trump. US President Joe Biden made a request to the United Nations (UN) on January 20, the day of his inauguration. Thirty days later, the world’s leading economic power, and the planet’s second-largest polluter, once again joined the 189 other countries to have ratified this sealed treaty, in 2015, in order to limit global warming.
On paper, this return could appear symbolic: due to procedural rules, the United States will only be out of the agreement for three months. In fact, beyond whether or not it belongs to the treaty, this event marks the United States’ desire to establish itself as one of the leaders in climate action and to lead other countries in its wake. A break after the four years of presidency of climate skeptic Donald Trump, during which his administration slowed down, or even blocked, international climate negotiations and limited the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions at the national level, in particular by unraveling a hundred environmental legislation.
“Seeing the United States return to the international diplomatic game on the climate, with a strong political will, allows to breathe new life into all the countries which act against climate change, says David Levaï, associate researcher at the Washington-based Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations. This is the end of Donald Trump’s four-year parenthesis, the end of an energy focused not on moving forward, but on avoiding backing down. “
“Climate blitz”
“The United States are now back in words, but also in action”, says Rachel Kyte, dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Massachusetts) and expert in climate diplomacy. From the first week of his mandate, by a series of presidential decrees described as a “climate blitz” by some observers, Joe Biden in turn stopped the Keystone XL pipeline project, suspended the granting of new offshore drilling permits, announced the protection of a third of the surface of federal lands. The President has also appointed highly competent climate figures to all key positions in his administration, starting with former Secretary of State John Kerry, who becomes Presidential Special Envoy for Climate, a first for the United States. .
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