Why the U.S. Should Remain in the Paris Climate Agreement

It has been reported that today there will be a meeting in the White House where the President's key advisers will discuss whether the United States should remain a party to the Paris climate agreement. With this in mind, we reflect in this essay on the history of international climate negotiations, observe why this is a pivotal moment and explain why we think that the U.S. should remain in the Paris agreement.

In the five decades since the first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, remarkable economic growth around the world has inevitably been accompanied by significant environmental challenges. While tremendous progress has been made to address concerns about air and water quality, hazardous waste, species extinction and maintenance of stratospheric ozone, leaders around the world continue to struggle to address the threat of global climate change in the face of the steady accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere....