Joe Biden Signs Executive Order Rejoining Paris Climate Agreement

Rejoining the climate deal was one of the few executive orders that Biden signed in front of a pool of reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday soon after his arrival at the White House as the 46th President of the United States.

US President Joe Biden signed a series of executive orders to launch his administration Wednesday, including a decision to rejoin the Paris climate accord. The orders included keeping the United States bolstering environmental protections and strengthening the fight against Covid-19.

The Trump administration in November last formally withdrew from the Paris accord, a decision originally announced three years ago, arguing that the agreement was disadvantageous for the US, while it gives benefits to countries like China, Russia, and India. Former President Donald Trump had said the deal could be economically detrimental and cost 2.5 million Americans their jobs by 2025. The Paris accord committed the US and 187 other countries to keep rising global temperatures below 2C above pre-industrial levels and attempting to limit them even more, to a 1.5C rise.

His return to the Paris Agreement, which the United States joined Barack Obama as president and Biden vice president, was lauded by other leaders.