Trump could follow three general paths: Withdraw from the agreement; pull out of the entire UN climate process, known as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change; or, simply, do nothing to honor the commitment Obama made last year.
Trump’s energy adviser, Rep. Kevin Cramer (R) of North Dakota, previewed an idea for delegitimizing the Paris agreement during a Tuesday debate with Clinton adviser Trevor Houser. Congressman Cramer said Trump would send the climate agreement through the Senate. There, it surely wouldn’t garner two-thirds majority needed to confirm a new, binding agreement.
“The point would be to have it fail,” says David Hunter, a law professor and Director of the International Legal Studies Program at American University Washington College of Law, though he questioned whether even that option was available once the agreement enters into force on Nov. 4.
