Washington: Joe Biden has said he would immediately return the United States to the Paris accord if elected president, a day after Washington withdrew from the climate change pact.
“Today, the Trump Administration officially left the Paris Climate Agreement. And in exactly 77 days, a Biden Administration will rejoin it,” tweeted Biden, who, if elected, would take the presidential oath on January 20.
Biden has proposed a $1.7 trillion plan to take the US, the world’s second-biggest carbon emitter, to net-zero by 2050.
Trump has aggressively championed the fossil fuel industry, questioned the science of climate change and weakened other environmental protections.
However, a report last month by the group America’s Pledge found that even without help from Washington, action from cities, states and businesses would still make it possible for the US to cut emissions by 37 percent by 2030.
Trump gave a one-year notice to leave the Paris accord on November 4, 2019. Biden would need to officially notify the UN of US willingness to return.
