ASSOCIATED PRESS • November 1, 2020
What happens on election day will to some degree determine how much more hot and nasty the world’s climate will likely get, experts say. The day after the presidential election, the United States formally leaves the 2015 Paris agreement to fight climate change. A year ago, President Trump’s administration notified the United Nations that America is exiting the climate agreement. The U.S., the world’s second biggest carbon polluter, will be the first country to quit the 189-nation agreement, which has countries make voluntary, ever-tighter goals to curb emissions of heat-trapping gases. Former Vice President Joe Biden has pledged to put the country immediately back in the Paris agreement, which doesn’t require congressional approval.