After graduating with honors from Lewis & Clark Law School and George Washington University Law School, , Zach Pilchen serves as an environmental law attorney based in Washington, DC.. Zach Pilchen’s professional interests include climate change and the Paris Agreement. Also known as the Paris Accord, this agreement sets voluntary nationally determined targets for countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions and pursue actions that will offset anthropogenic emissions by the middle of the 21st century. The agreement addresses urgent concerns. The world’s temperature has risen 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, largely because of the greenhouse gases trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. The agreement's goal is to limit the total increase to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Nearly 200 nations signed on in 2015. Member states are required to develop plans to limit the production of climate-change-related gases such as carbon dioxide. They are also expected to render assistance to those countries that have trouble implementing the requisite social and technological advances. In 2024, signatories will report on their progress, and this information will help determine the second round of goal-setting. The agreement is already having an impact. Many governments have set policies aimed at establishing carbon neutrality, a condition wherein the atmosphere absorbs as much carbon dioxide as technology produces. The Trump Administration withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement, effective November 4, 2020. On the first day of the Biden Administration, however, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to re-admit the United States. Because the Paris Agreement is not a treaty, this change did not require the consent of the Senate.

1. Paris Agreement Intended to Control Climate
Change
Zach Pilchen

2. Introduction
After graduating with honors from Lewis & Clark Law School and
George Washington University Law School, , Zach Pilchen serves as
an environmental law attorney based in Washington, DC.. Zach
Pilchen’s professional interests include climate change and the Paris
Agreement.

3. Also known as the Paris Accord, this agreement sets voluntary
nationally determined targets for countries to cut greenhouse gas
emissions and pursue actions that will offset anthropogenic
emissions by the middle of the 21st century. The agreement
addresses urgent concerns. The world’s temperature has risen 2.2
degrees Fahrenheit since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution,
largely because of the greenhouse gases trapping heat in the Earth’s
atmosphere. The agreement's goal is to limit the total increase to
3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Nearly 200 nations signed on in 2015.

4. Member states are required to develop plans to limit the production
of climate-change-related gases such as carbon dioxide. They are
also expected to render assistance to those countries that have
trouble implementing the requisite social and technological advances.
In 2024, signatories will report on their progress, and this information
will help determine the second round of goal-setting.

5. The agreement is already having an impact. Many governments have
set policies aimed at establishing carbon neutrality, a condition
wherein the atmosphere absorbs as much carbon dioxide as
technology produces.

6. The Trump Administration withdrew the United States from the Paris
Agreement, effective November 4, 2020. On the first day of the Biden
Administration, however, President Joe Biden signed an executive
order to re-admit the United States. Because the Paris Agreement is
not a treaty, this change did not require the consent of the Senate.