Under the banner of “Putting America First In International Environmental Agreements,” the previous presidential administration’s policy was clear: prioritize American interests above all else when dealing with any global agreements that could potentially hurt the US economy. Basically, if a deal looked like it might put an unfair strain on the United States, it was out.

This meant the US ambassador to the UN was told to immediately send official notice that the US was pulling out of the Paris Agreement on climate change. It was a clean break – as soon as the UN got the notification, the US considered itself out of the deal and any related commitments. They were also told to scrap any financial promises the US had made under the agreement.

The Paris Agreement, remember, is all about keeping global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial times, ideally even down to 1.5 degrees. It officially started in November 2016, but the previous president announced he was pulling the US out back in 2017. The actual withdrawal happened in November 2020. But then, one of the first things President Joe Biden did when he took office in January 2021 was sign an executive order to rejoin the agreement – a real about-face.