A step towards combating climate change

On the 1st day of his office after being elected as the 46th President of the U.S., Joe Biden declared his intention of rejoining the Paris Agreement, from which it had withdrawn on November 4, 2020 under the administration of Trump. Observing the noxious effect of climate change on sustenance of life,it is an exigency to unite together so as to maintain the economic stability in Paris Accord, thereby achieving the goal through INDC ( Intended Nationally Determined Contributions). Joe Biden took a major step to remove the errors in the previous decisions taken by Trump.

              Climate change isn't a hoax, it is a reality. The devastating effects  of the global warming, increased industrialisation and the absence of proper measures to mitigate the climate change can be easily apprehended from the catastrophic events of the last 5 years. Amazon fires, California wildfires, wildfires in Siberia, Australia bushfire, shifting of the magnetic north pole of the Earth at an increasing rate,innumerable floods and so on have wreaked havoc on the world, taking away thousands of lives of animals as well as humans. In the time of lockdown and curfews in 2020,many positive effects were seen in the environment, though it transgressed at a fast pace to the previous conditions of environment as soon as the lockdown opened.

Paris Accord was formulated in the COP21 held in France in 2015 under the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). It was adopted in the year 2016 in order to keep the rise in global temperature within 2°C above the pre-industrial level by the end of this century. It is important to keep a check on the rise in temperature, especially for the existence of island countries that are more prone to dangers of climatic change. Under this agreement, the developed countries had to provide financial and technological assistance to the developing countries by 2020.

In 2017, within the 6 months after becoming the U.S. President, Trump announced to withdraw from Paris Agreement because nearly $3 billion that would be funded by him, if it was a member, could be used in creating new jobs for the American youth and increase the U.S. economy. What an irony it is to create a better future for the youth in the name of employment, and at the same time depriving them of the right to clean environment! Trump had ignored the fact that the continuous thought not to take any action to tackle the climate change would drastically affect the later generations. He had also supported his withdrawal by declaring that he was already contributing and will continue to contribute to the United Nations' Green Climate Fund, which "costs the U.S. a fortune".

The U.S. under the presidentship of Barack Obama had promised to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 26-28% by the year 2030. But Donald Trump invalidated this decision. According to him,this agreement would weaken the national sovereignty of the U.S. The former President George Bush too had denied to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in 2001 along the same line.

As the U.S. is the 2nd largest carbon emitter  in the world, after China, the collective efforts of other signatory members would prove insufficient in lowering the global temperature without the participation of the U.S. Now when Biden has shown an intent to rejoin the Accord, it revived the people's hopes in limiting the temperature to 2°C and raise the chances of making the earth more sustainable to the existence of life.

-Neha Chaudhary