U.S. Withdraws From Paris Global Climate Deal, But Hawaii Persists
The role local governments play in fighting climate change “has never been greater,” the state’s top energy official said.
The U.S. pulled out of the Paris Agreement on Wednesday, making it the only country out of the 195 that signed the landmark climate accord to do so.
The move comes after President Donald Trump formally announced in 2017 his intent to leave the landmark agreement. It aims to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and slow the impacts of human-induced climate change.
But in a statement earlier this week, Hawaii’s top state energy official said the state will continue to observe the standards set in the Paris Agreement. The nation’s lone island state is part of the , a bipartisan consortium of 25 governors who pledged to follow the pact even if the U.S. pulled out as a whole.
“The need for state and local governments to strengthen their efforts to counter the devastating effects of the climate crisis has never been greater,” Chief Energy Officer Scott Glenn said Wednesday. “Hawaii pledges to work … to accelerate our ambition and pace of climate leadership.鈥
The state has one of the nation’s more ambitious clean energy policies, having set a goal to power the islands using 100% renewable sources by 2045.
The U.S. presidential race is still too early to call. However, former Vice President Joe Biden has pledged to return the country to the global climate deal if he’s elected:
Today, the Trump Administration officially left the Paris Climate Agreement. And in exactly 77 days, a Biden Administration will rejoin it.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden)
