A Costly Dissonance: Putting America Last in Climate Resilience

Following the recent executive order to leave the Paris Agreement, again, the United States now joins Iran, Libya, and Yemen as the only countries in the world that are not part of the agreement. The new administration has isolated the United States precisely at a time when it can’t afford to.

The announcement came while fires in Los Angeles were still raging, making them one of the most expensive climate-related disasters in U.S. history, with losses of more than $250 billion, at least 27 deaths, and more than 70,000 people displaced. Long-term impacts include health complications, soaring insurance costs, potential loss of insurance, more expensive housing, and financial instability of local industries and the public sector. 

The L.A. fires came just three months after Hurricane Helene left behind a path of destruction from Florida to the Southern Appalachians, costing nearly $80 billion, more than 200 deaths, and damaging hundreds of water and sewer systems.

In 2024 alone in the United States, there were 27 climate-related disasters with losses that exceeded $1 billion each, and in totality, resulted in the deaths of nearly 600 people. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, homeowners' insurance premiums have increased by more than 30 percent in three years, while some places in the country are no longer covered by insurance. And this is not just a trend in the United States. The 2024 Global Insurance Market Report pointed out that “Climate change remains an overarching global threat and a source of financial risk,” and it will impact insurance affordability worldwide. Disregarding climate change and its impacts will surely undercut the new administration’s efforts to “lower the cost of housing and expand housing supply.”

Last year, 2024, was the warmest year in history and one of escalating climate impacts around the world. Due to global warming, extreme weather intensified and broke records with devastating heat waves, droughts, wildfires, storms, and floods that resulted in at least 3,700 deaths and the displacement of millions of people. 

Countries that have contributed the least to global warming are bearing the wrath of a changing climate and, unfortunately, have been grappling with disasters more frequently than those in the developed world. For example, the island of Mayotte was struck by a tropical storm just weeks after being hit by one of its worst hurricanes in a century. Vulnerable nations are repeatedly sentenced to pay a price they can’t afford for a crisis they didn’t create.

The scale of destruction from these disasters around the world highlights the inadequacy of current approaches to address more frequent and intense impacts and the striking need for more attention to climate resilience. Without targeted action to respond to current and future impacts of climate change, communities will continue to grieve for lost loved ones, be challenged to rebuild their homes, lose their livelihoods, and have to cope with the broader economic costs of destruction.

Global cooperation to reduce and respond to the impacts of climate change is precisely the mandate of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and, more specifically, the Paris Agreement. No country and no community are immune to the wrath of our rapidly changing climate. The need for international collaboration to address the scale of climate change is why the Paris Agreement has become a beacon of hope for more than 190 countries that are committed to holding themselves accountable every year to collectively address the climate crisis.

Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement at a time of heightened climate impacts has immediate and long-term consequences for Americans and the rest of the world. The Paris Agreement is driving climate action around the world and emphasizes that efforts should be inclusive, transparent, and country-driven while empowering local communities to participate in decision-making. The United States has much to learn from other countries that already have myriad experiences with disasters and are more advanced in planning and implementing climate adaptation. 

As part of the Paris Agreement, more than 65 countries have developed National Adaptation Plans that assess climate risks and develop holistic strategies to adapt to them. The global goal on adaptation provides a clear framework for guiding global adaptation efforts, identifies key areas for action, and allows countries to work together to build adaptive capacity and to learn from and support each other. 

In addition to isolating the United States from global adaptation progress, withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and revoking financial support make it more difficult for the world to adapt to climate impacts, especially for the most vulnerable developing countries that did little to cause the effects but disproportionately suffer from them. 

It should not, however, deter other rich countries from fulfilling their commitments to support developing countries in responding to impacts. Wealthy countries committed to tripling climate finance at the last climate summit in Azerbaijan, driven by the recognition of the cost of inaction and the benefits of climate action and investment. As Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the UNFCCC said, “This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country,” and “like any insurance policy, it only works if premiums are paid in full and on time. Promises must be kept to protect billions of lives.”

While more challenging without the United States on board, fulfilling the new collective climate finance goal is not only possible but a strategic investment for shared prosperity, resilience, and security. All relevant actors in the global community must work together to scale up climate investments to power the just transition toward more resilient, sustainable, and safer societies. There is a pathway, as highlighted by the most authoritative scientific body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to accelerating efforts to reduce emissions and adapt to a changing climate.

More resilience and more solidarity are needed to keep the Paris Agreement’s promise to the world. Two-thirds of Americans (66 percent) want their government to take more climate action with the urgency the situation demands. A majority of cities and states are ready to charge ahead. More than 5,000 state and local leaders in the United States have pledged to uphold the goals of the Paris Agreement—representing 63 percent of Americans and 74 percent of U.S. GDP—as have governors in 24 states and territories. In fact, 80 percent of people, globally, want stronger climate action and to build on a global clean energy market worth $2 trillion in the last year alone. Many leaders from around the world already noted that they will move on with the Paris Agreement. 

The U.S. administration’s climate dissonance comes at its own cost.