UW Political Science Professor Aseem Prakash and colleague Nives Dolšak, on The Conversation web site, suggest that there is an overreaction to the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement (Paris climate accord).
It is more symbolic than impactful on climate, and we should not overreact.
To be sure, the decision to pull the U.S. out of a global agreement is a dramatic one. But we suggest that this withdrawal is a symbolic action with little substantive impact on climate mitigation. As such, it is critical not to overreact and lose sight of domestic issues that could significantly jeopardize future climate policies.
It was not a surprise that the Trump admin. quit the Paris Agreement as, “…the administration had already adopted anti-climate mitigation policies prior to the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.”
US withdrawal will not affect other nations’ implementing renewable energy sources since, “…a commercial imperative to move more aggressively given that a growing percentage of new global electricity generation capacity is based on renewable sources.”
The article titled "Are we overreacting to US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate?" appeared on June 1st on The Conversation web site.