The Perils of Pulling Out of Paris
A WEAKENED TREATY, The U.S. is the world's largest economy and its second greatest polluter. Experts worry that if the U.S. abandons its public commitment to combat climate changea move that could negatively impact the global effort to lower carbon emissionsit may trigger other countries to follow suit, weakening the accord. LOST ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY, In 2016, there was a nearly 300 billion global investment in clean energya figure that was expected to grow with the accord, since fighting climate change means embracing renewable energy. A U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement could signal to investors that the U.S. has little interest in capturing that market. GLOBAL ALIENATION, A U.S. withdrawal will likely be seen as an affront to U.S. allies in Europe, weakening key relationships. It will put the U.S. in the position of being a lone dissenter in climate-change discussions, and could result in the U.S. being excluded from high-level diplomatic gatherings altogether.