LGBT discrimination, face mask mandate, DACA: 5 actions taken by Biden on his first day in office
Paris Climate Agreement
In a very brief announcement, Biden said that the United States was rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, which was aimed at taking measures to combat manmade climate change.
“I, Joseph R. Biden Jr., President of the United States of America, having seen and considered the Paris Agreement, done at Paris on December 12, 2015, do hereby accept the said Agreement and every article and clause thereof on behalf of the United States of America. Done at Washington this 20th day of January, 2021,” read the order in its entirety.
Trump pulled out of the agreement in 2017, saying that it was ineffective in combating climate change and was harming the national economy.
"The cost to the economy at this time would be close to three trillion dollars in lost GDP and 6.5 million industrial jobs, while households would have $7,000 less income and, in many cases, much worse than that," Trump said at the time.
"Not only does this deal subject our citizens to harsh economic restrictions, it fails to live up to our environmental ideals. As someone who cares deeply about the environment, which I do, I cannot in good conscience support a deal that punishes the United States, which is what it does."