UNFCCC

One of Donald Trump’s first acts in his second US presidency was withdrawing from the 2015 Paris Agreement. The US has historically played the role of ‘rulemaker’ yet is notoriously fickle in its ratification and participation. This paper highlights this history of (non-)cooperation, how this second withdrawal differs from the first, and what the potential consequences, both good and bad, are for global climate governance. It shows how US withdrawal may not lead to a crippled regime but can rather pave the way to a more robust and engaged Paris Agreement.

2020 and 2021 saw a veritable boom in net zero targets. This article explores this phenomenon, using the norm life cycle theory of Finnemore and Sikkink to investigate the emergence and diffusion of net zero as a global climate norm.