9 Things to Know About Trump's Paris Agreement Decision

After declining to recommit to the Paris climate change agreement at last week's G-7 summit, it came as little surprise that President Donald Trump announced that the United States "will withdraw from the Paris climate accord." The December 2015 Paris agreement, now ratified by 147 countries including the United States, is designed to abate the risks and impacts of climate change by holding the increase in global average temperature to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels.

To achieve this goal, all parties to the agreement are required to prepare nationally determined contributions (NDCs). The United States' NDC proposes to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 26-28 percent below 2005 levels. Trump stated Thursday, June 1, the U.S. would "cease all implementation of the nonbinding Paris accord," including "ending the implementation of the nationally determined contribution," and the United States'