No Matter Who Wins, the US Exits the Paris Climate Accord the Day After the Election

November 2, 2020

Demonstrators hold banners reading messages against global warming during a rally held by Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) to form a human chain on the Champs de Mars near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, on December 12, 2015 on the sidelines of the COP21, the UN conference on global warming. French hosts submit the final version of a global climate-saving pact to negotiators at UN Conference on december 12. The goal is for ministers to approve the agreement by the end of the day but that could be extended one more day. / AFP / FRANCOIS GUILLOT (Photo credit should read FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP via Getty Images)

Regardless of the outcome of the presidential election, the United States will officially be out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement on Nov. 4, marking a disappointing milestone in the international effort to stop global warming.

Climate experts say that, if the world’s biggest historic greenhouse gas polluter won’t slash emissions, there’s little hope of meeting the Paris target of averting catastrophic global warming.