Can U.S. states and cities overcome Paris exit?
President Donald Trump’s announce- ment that his administration will withdraw from the Paris climate agree- ment has sent researchers scrambling for their calculators. While political analysts assess the
diplomatic and domestic fallout from the
decision by the world’s second largest emitter of greenhouse gases to exit the deal, researchers are trying to determine just how
much Trump’s decision to abandon the accord and roll back climate regulations will
damage efforts to cut U.S. carbon emissions.
A new alliance of states, cities, and corporations has already vowed to help the United
States meet the Paris reduction targets promised by former President Barack Obama, even
without Trump’s help. “Americans don’t need
Washington to meet our Paris commitment,
and Americans are not going to let Washington stand in the way of fulfilling it,” said former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg,
whose foundation is coordinating the alliance, which is one of several initiatives. But
the numbers suggest that the best efforts of
these smaller actors might well fall short
