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39 J. Energy & Nat. Resources L. 1 (2021)

handle is hein.journals/jenrl39 and id is 1 raw text is: Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law, 2021 Vol 39, No 1, 1-11, https://doi.org/10.1080/02646811.2021.1872184 EDITORIAL The United States re-engages with the world on climate change. But the question remains: is the US a dependable long-term partner? Introduction As 2021 unfolds and - with the presidency of Joe Biden - the world welcomes the United States back to the global effort to address climate change, a large question looms: Is the US a dependable partner? Put simply, can the world's climate change leaders depend on the US to re-engage as a long-term good faith partner rather than being subject to the impulses of an American president who does not believe in climate change? US engagement at a federal level reached its apex in August 2016, when the country formally entered the Paris Climate Accord. Several days later, while visiting China, President Barack Obama said, 'We have a saying in America - that you need to put your money where your mouth is. And when it comes to combatting climate change, that's what we're doing, both the United States and China. We're leading by example'.1 Less than a year later, President Donald Trump, Obama's successor, said, 'I am fighting every day for the great people of this country. Therefore, in order to fulfill my solemn duty to protect America and its citizens, the United States will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord'.2 Trump, who had campaigned in 2016 on a commit- ment to withdraw from the accord, went on to savage the agreement: The Paris Agreement handicaps the United States economy in order to win praise from the very foreign capitals and global activists that have long sought to gain wealth at our country's expense. They don't put America first. I do, and I always will. And he wasn't finished: 'At what point does America get demeaned. At what point do they start laughing at us as a country? ... We don't want other leaders and other countries laughing at us anymore. And they won't be. They won't be'.3 Now, in yet another example of American 'whipsaw' action (or inaction, as the case may be) when it comes to climate change, after taking office in January the 1 Tanya Somander, 'President Obama: The United States Formally Enters the Paris Agreement' (3 Sep- tember 2016) https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2016/09/03/president-obama-united-states- formally-enters-paris-agreement accessed 4 January 2020. 2 Donald Trump, 'Statement by President Trump on the Paris Climate Accord' (1 June 2017) www. whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-president-trump-paris-climate-accord/ accessed 4 January 2020. 3 Ibid. © 2021 International Bar Association Routledge Tylor& Francis Group

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