Leaving the Paris Agreement Would Be Indefensible

Reports suggest that President Trump has finally decided to pull out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement after many weeks of a back and forth administration tug-of-war. Trump himself has tweeted that he will make an official announcement in the coming days. I have followed the ups and downs of this debate more closely than most, and weighed in where I could, because, as the U.S. special envoy for climate change, I led the U.S. negotiating effort from the start of the Obama administration through and beyond the Paris talks. Along with many others, I have tried to defend and preserve the U.S. role in Paris not because of the personal blood, sweat, and tears that my team and I invested (well, mostly not), but because we understand the climate threat, we recognize what’s at stake, and we know the giant step forward that the Paris Agreement represented.

The president evidently