The United States is the only developed country that hasn’t adopted a Paris-style climate deal, but there are plenty of other developed countries that have.
The Trump administration is threatening to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, and the US Senate is considering a bill that would make it much harder to do so.
The United Kingdom and Canada have also said they’re withdrawing from the pact.
And Trump’s promised $3 billion budget cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency are still making it difficult for states and cities to implement their own climate action plans.
What is the Trump administration trying to do?
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that he’s prepared to withdraw the US from the 2015 Paris climate agreement and that he will use the authority of the US Constitution to do that.
But Trump’s rhetoric has changed.
His transition team has said that his administration is still “not 100 per cent committed” to staying in the deal.
The White House also has said it wants to withdraw support for a cap-and-trade system, which would regulate carbon emissions and limit their impacts on the climate.
Trump has also threatened to cut funding for the Clean Power Plan, which is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
What does this mean for future US climate action?
If the Trump Administration withdraws from the accord, it would be a huge blow to the US economy.
A cap- and-trade scheme is a way to limit greenhouse gas pollution.
It’s also known as a “smart” carbon tax, which means it would reduce greenhouse gases while still being revenue-neutral.
It would also require the federal government to set a price on carbon emissions, something that has not been done since the 1970s.
A similar cap- &-trade plan is under consideration in California, a state that Trump is threatening in a new budget that is expected to cut millions of dollars from the state’s coffers.
And the Trump transition team said it is also considering pulling funding for climate-related programs like the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Environmental Defense Fund and the National Wildlife Federation.
What will happen to other countries that are not in the Paris agreement?
There’s no telling how the US will react if it withdraws, but it could lead to a series of problems for other countries.
Countries that aren’t part of the Paris Agreement could see a drop in their support for clean energy, as well as for other environmental causes, like conservation.
This could make it harder for other nations to sign on to a climate deal.
There are also questions about how the Trump team will handle the US withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol, which requires developing countries to cut greenhouse gas greenhouse gas emission.
That agreement requires developing nations to cut their greenhouse gas carbon dioxide emissions by an average of about 3 per cent a year over the next 10 years.
How does the US compare to other developed nations?
The United Nations has estimated that the United States has around 1.4 times the carbon emissions of the United Kingdom.
And, according to data compiled by the US Energy Information Administration, the US has about 30 times more coal-fired power plants than the UK, with the average coal plant generating about 6 megawatts of electricity per megawatt hour.
The US is also much bigger than the EU.
It has more than 300 million people, making it a much bigger greenhouse gas emitter than the European Union.
What are the US’ emissions?
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, the United US is responsible for about 7 per cent of the global total emissions of greenhouse gases.
The EU is responsible, with about 10 per cent.
The UK is responsible in part for around 15 per cent, and China and India are responsible for around 8 per cent each.
What happens to climate action after the US leaves the Paris accord?
The Paris agreement is a major step towards cutting emissions of carbon dioxide, and many countries are following suit.
But there are also issues that still need to be resolved, such as how the countries are going to pay for their climate actions.
That will be the subject of a major US-EU trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, but has only just been officially announced.
A final deal is expected in December.
How is the US climate plan different from the EU’s?
The Trump transition plan does include some provisions that have been in place for several years.
For example, the plan calls for a 20 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2030, and would set targets for emissions reduction through 2020.
But the administration has said these targets are not legally binding.
They also call for the US to phase out its coal-burning power plants by 2026, which could mean it would have to buy coal from other countries, including Canada.
There’s also a pledge to phase down the use of coal by 2025.
These targets are much lower than the goals of other developing countries that signed up to the Paris deal,