On 1 June 2017, President Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change. Pursuant to the Agreement, the withdrawal will take effect on or around 5 November 2020.
The Paris Agreement was adopted on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016 (see our previous coverage here and here). States parties can withdraw from the Agreement by giving written notification to the United Nations Secretary-General, but no such notice can be given until three years after the Agreement’s entry into force. Withdrawal itself takes effect a year after receipt of the written notification, meaning that the earliest that the US withdrawal from the Agreement could become effective is 5 November 2020. Until then, the US remains a State party bound by the Agreement. The US withdrawal will have no impact on the legal force of the Agreement as between the remaining States parties.
President Trump has indicated that, alongside withdrawal, the US might seek to renegotiate the Agreement. Any such “renegotiation” would be challenging given that, pursuant to the Agreement, any changes require consensus by all 148 other State parties, or, failing that, a 75% majority vote of States parties at an amendment meeting. Within hours of President Trump’s announcement, the leaders of France, Germany and Italy issued a joint statement that the “Paris Agreement cannot be renegotiated since it is a vital instrument for our planet, societies and economies”.
For the text of the Paris Agreement, click here; for President Trump’s announcement, click here.