Trump’s Withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement Is a Grave Mistake

The president's reckless move threatens more than just the environment—it hurts the economy and puts national security at risk.

On the heels of a contentious summit with G7 partners, President Trump announced today that he will pull the United States out from the landmark Paris climate accord, the global agreement to battle climate change that 195 countries signed on to in December 2015. The United States will join only two other countries—Syria and Nicaragua—as non-participants.

“This is a grave mistake that hurts our country—starting now,” NRDC president Rhea Suh said. “Trump’s extremism has isolated us from the global coalition we helped to create—with China, Germany, India, Japan, and 190 other countries—to fight the central environmental challenge of our time. He’s sidelined American workers in the economic play of our lifetime: the clean energy boom that is remaking the world economy. And he’s abandoned our children to climate catastrophe.”

Indeed, withdrawing the United States from the climate agreement will turn us into a global pariah and destroy our international credibility, threatening not just our environment but also our national security. At home, our economy also stands to take a hit: Trump’s decision puts more than a million clean energy jobs at risk. In signing the Paris climate agreement, the United States, the second-largest polluter on the planet, committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent in a decade. Our withdrawal from the agreement will undo years of progress made toward achieving that goal.

“It’s on us now—state and local officials, business leaders, educators, consumers, and moms and dads—to help keep the promise of Paris alive,” Suh said.