Regardless of the uncertain legal future for the Obama administration’s centerpiece climate regulation, the U.S. will sign the Paris Agreement on climate change, State Department Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern told reporters in Brussels last week, Reuters reported. “It is entirely premature, really premature to assume the Clean Power Plan will be struck down but, even if it were, come what may, we are sticking to our plan to sign, to join,” Stern said in the Feb. 16 article. “We’re going to go ahead and sign the agreement this year.”
The Paris Agreement, which was adopted in December by a group of nearly 200 nations, will open formally for signature on April 22 during a meeting of the United Nations in New York. Under the agreement, nations commit to a legally binding framework under which they will work to meet voluntary nationally determined climate action goals.
The Clean Power Plan, carbon emissions standards for existing coal-fired power plants, has been at the center of the U.S. intended nationally determined contribution to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 26-28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025. However, on Feb. 9 the U.S. Supreme Court halted the rule’s implementation until its legality has been determined at the highest level. This will likely take place in mid-2017 or possibly 2018.
