Paris Agreement on Climate Change

Statement made by President Trump

The Paris Agreement that President Trump withdrew the U.S. from on June 1 is part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, an international treaty established in 1992 with the goal to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere affecting climate. The Treaty went into force in March of 1994 after ratification by a sufficient number of countries.

The 197 member countries of the Treaty meet annually to review greenhouse gas emissions. In 2015 the Paris Agreement was adopted and went into force in 2016, requiring "all parties to put forward their best efforts through 'nationally determined contributions' and to strengthen these efforts in the years ahead. This includes requirements that all Parties report regularly on their emissions and on their implementation efforts."

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is another body under the United Nations for "assessing the science related to climate change."

U.S. government websites reviewing climate change, including GlobalChange.gov, are listed on the Library's Science and Technology section on the Government Documents web page.