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Republicans Claim Rejoining Paris Climate Accords Will Cost American Jobs, But Here’s What’s Really Happening

This article is more than 3 years old.
Updated Jan 21, 2021, 12:57pm EST

Topline

President Biden rejoined the Paris Climate Accord in one of his first acts after taking office on Wednesday, reversing a controversial decision by President Trump to exit the agreement, but some Republicans were quick to criticize rejoining because they say it puts American jobs at risk, but that’s not the whole picture. 

Key Facts

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said rejoining the international climate agreement will “cost American jobs and force households and small business to pay higher utility bills,” and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said the agreement will “do little to affect the climate and will harm the livelihoods of Americans.”


Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) said Biden’s decision to rejoin “props up our adversaries at the expense of American workers” and “will cost thousands of jobs.” 

But economists from the London School of Economics argued in August that the American economy would be better off if the U.S. participated in the accord: “Staying in the Paris Agreement would result in significant economic benefits for the United States, its trading partners, and the world economy; withdrawing is a mistake,” they wrote. 

After Trump announced his plans to exit the accords in 2017 and suggested the agreement could cost the U.S. 2.7 million jobs by 2025, an analysis from the Milken Institute found that job creation had actually continued to climb after the U.S. joined the group in April 2016.

Since then, the creation of new clean energy jobs has outpaced the growth of fossil fuel jobs: a 2020 report from the Energy Futures Initiative and the National Association of State Energy Officials found that the U.S added 54,000 new jobs in energy efficiency in 2019 (the most of any energy sector), while the oil and gas sector added 18,000 new jobs—less than half that amount. 

A July report from the World Resources Institute found that in 2019, zero-emissions power generation like solar and wind energy was responsible for creating more than twice as many jobs as fossil fuel generation, and that 41 states have been able to increase their GDP while simultaneously reducing carbon emissions. 

Surprising Fact 

The conservative-leaning Chamber of Commerce, on the other hand, applauded Biden’s move: “It is critical that the United States restore its leadership role in international efforts to address the climate challenge,” the body wrote in a statement

Key Background

The Paris Climate Accord is an agreement adopted by nearly 200 countries in 2015 designed to curb the effects of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the globe. Former President Trump consistently criticized the accord throughout his term. In a statement at the G-20 summit in December, just after the United States formally withdrew from the agreement, Trump said the pact was designed to “kill the American economy” rather than “save the environment.” 

Further Reading

Here Are All The Actions Biden Took On His First Day In Office (Forbes)

At G-20 Summit, Trump Says Paris Climate Accord Was ‘Designed To Kill U.S. Economy’ (Forbes)

10 Charts Show the Economic Benefits of US Climate Action (World Resources Institute)

The economic case for the United States to remain in the Paris Agreement on climate change (London School of Economics and Political Science)

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