Joe Biden Says He'll Rejoin the Paris Agreement If He Becomes President

Joe Biden is making it clear that one of the first things he’ll do if he becomes President is reverse one of President Trump‘s decisions.

The 77-year-old former Vice President, who is currently projected ahead in the ongoing vote count in the U.S. presidential election, vowed to rejoin the Paris Agreement, the world’s most prominent climate change agreement.

On Wednesday (November 4), Trump fulfilled his promise to remove the United States from the agreement, becoming the only country to back out to date.

The agreement was initiated under President Barack Obama in 2015, and is an international pact between almost 200 countries aiming to lower their carbon emissions and avoid the Earth’s temperature rising 2 degrees Celsius — or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, which scientists believe will lead to more extreme natural disasters, food shortages and mass migration due to changing environments.

Trump, who is a climate change skeptic, said the agreement does more to harm the economy than it does to help. His administration began backing out of the deal on November 4, 2019, and the year-long process ended this week.

“Today, the Trump Administration officially left the Paris Climate Agreement. And in exactly 77 days, a Biden Administration will rejoin it,” Joe Biden announced that same day.

Biden also gave an update about the voting process to date.