{"id":300339,"date":"2025-08-04T12:00:24","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T11:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=300339"},"modified":"2025-08-01T13:20:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T12:20:49","slug":"us-government-may-be-abandoning-the-global-climate-fight-but-new-leaders-are-filling-the-void-including-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2025\/08\/us-government-may-be-abandoning-the-global-climate-fight-but-new-leaders-are-filling-the-void-including-china\/","title":{"rendered":"US Government May Be Abandoning the Global Climate Fight, But New Leaders Are Filling the Void \u2013 Including China"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva meet in Beijing in May 2025. Tingshu Wang\/Pool Photo via AP<\/p><\/div>\n

31 Jul 2025\u00a0<\/em>– When President Donald Trump announced in early 2025 that he was withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement<\/a> for the second time, it triggered fears that the move would undermine global efforts to slow climate change and diminish America\u2019s global influence.<\/p>\n

A big question hung in the air: Who would step into the leadership vacuum?<\/p>\n

I study<\/a> the dynamics of global environmental politics, including through the United Nations climate negotiations. While it\u2019s still too early to fully assess the long-term impact of the United States\u2019 political shift when it comes to global cooperation on climate change, there are signs that a new set of leaders is rising to the occasion.<\/p>\n

World responds to another US withdrawal<\/h2>\n

The U.S. first committed to the Paris Agreement<\/a> in a joint announcement by President Barack Obama and China\u2019s Xi Jinping in 2015. At the time, the U.S. agreed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 26% to 28% below 2005 levels by 2025 and pledged financial support to help developing countries adapt to climate risks and embrace renewable energy.<\/p>\n

Some people praised the U.S. engagement, while others criticized the original commitment as too weak<\/a>. Since then, the U.S. has cut emissions by 17.2% below 2005 levels<\/a> \u2013 missing the goal, in part because its efforts have been stymied along the way.<\/p>\n

Just two years after the landmark Paris Agreement, Trump stood in the Rose Garden in 2017 and announced he was withdrawing the U.S.<\/a> from the treaty, citing concerns that jobs would be lost, that meeting the goals would be an economic burden, and that it wouldn\u2019t be fair because China, the world\u2019s largest emitter today, wasn\u2019t projected to start reducing<\/a> its emissions for several years.<\/p>\n

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