[Bilge_Rat]

when it comes to climate change, people don't seem to realise that CO2 emissions have been falling in both the USA and the EU. The big polluters are now China and India:

For the most recent 10-year period, U.S. emissions declined by 622 million tons. This represents a 10% decline in carbon dioxide emissions over that time period. Once more, the UK was in 2nd place for this time period with a decline of 139 million tons (down 24% over the decade). China led all countries with an increase of 3.1 billion tons, which represented a 51% increase in China's carbon dioxide emissions over the past decade. India was again in 2nd place with a gain of 1.0 billion tons, but its growth rate for emissions was higher at 83% for the decade.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier.../#3657d3645f48

That is why the Paris accord was such a bad deal.

1. The USA had the highest target for CO2 reduction (26-28 %), but China and India were allowed to increase their CO2 level until 2030!

http://climateactiontracker.org/countries/china.html

http://climateactiontracker.org/countries/india.html

2. The economic cost to the USA could be enormous:

According to one report commissioned by the American Council for Capital Formation with support from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for 21st Century Energy, “the Paris climate accord could cost the U.S. economy $3 trillion and 6.5 million industrial sector jobs by 2040…”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/paris-c...was-a-bad-deal

3. even with all that, the overall climate effect would be marginal:

One might argue that this is a matter of life or death, so the sacrifice is justified if it saves humanity. Here’s where the deal really falls apart. According to another study, the Paris deal would shave about 0.2 degrees off warming by 2100. You heard me right. Assuming everything works perfectly according to plan, we could plausibly be trading 6.5 million jobs for a 0.2-degree payoff.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/paris-c...was-a-bad-deal

so the U.S. had the highest targets to meet even though it is no longer the biggest polluter, the biggest polluters could keep increasing their emissions for another 13 years and the accord would have next to no effect on global temperature. The Paris accord is just another bad deal negotiated by Obama.