The United States’ second exit from the Paris Agreement wasn’t unexpected. Even before he was reelected, now-president Donald Trump had promised for months that he would pull the country out of the United Nations pact to limit global warming: the Paris climate “ rip-off ,” as he called it.

Trump's executive order called for an immediate withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. The agreement requires one year notice, but there's room for interpretation.

So what is the Paris Agreement, what have countries done since it was signed and what does this mean for COP29? What is the Paris Agreement? The Paris Agreement is a legally bindi