If a recent warning that the world is on track for its hottest year on record in 2027 hasn't rung alarm bells in Washington's corridors of power, historic highs of public anxiety might.
Gallup polling shows that 44% of US adults now worry "a great deal" about global warming – the highest percentage since 1989, tied with peaks in 2020 and 2017. Americans have just lived through their warmest March in memory, with average temperatures across the contiguous states soaring 9.4°F above the 20th-century average.
Activists project an illumination that reads "Planet Earth First" and "Future vs. Trump" onto the facade of the US Embassy in Berlin to protest the United States' withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, Germany, January 25, 2025. (Photo: VCG）
Unilateralism a 'disruptor'
Despite widespread worry, the US has twice withdrawn from the Paris Agreement – the landmark climate change pact signed by nearly 200 countries on World Earth Day (April 22) in 2016.
The US is the largest historic polluter by far. An analysis from Britain-based Carbon Brief shows the country has emitted a total of 542 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide since 1850.
Washington initially signed the agreement with a commitment to reducing domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025. In April 2021, this target was updated to a 50-52% reduction by 2030 (compared to 2005 levels). Then, in December 2024, the US signaled its goal to cut emissions by 61 to 66% by 2035.
Last year, Rhodium Group's analysts predicted that, under what was then the US policy landscape, the country was on track to reduce emissions by somewhere between 38% and 56%, compared with 2005 levels, by 2035. More recently, that estimate dipped to a 26-35% reduction in the same timeframe.
In January, the group released a report showing that the US is on track to record an estimated 2.4% increase on greenhouse gas emissions in 2025 compared with 2024.
Looking ahead, the Trump administration's sweeping changes to US energy policies will almost certainly stymie the country's progress on that count, the report said.
This record of falling short, coupled with two walkouts, has given rise to worldwide calls for developed countries to face up to their historical responsibility and honor financial commitments to developing countries.
The exit not only removes a key participant in global emission reduction, but also frees itself from international constraints, positioning Washington as what Wang Mou, a researcher at the Center for Sustainable Development Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, calls a "disruptor" in global climate governance.
Wang says the US – a major provider of technology and funds – exiting the pact creates hesitation and uncertainty in the financial sector, making investors jittery about fund allocation for green projects.
Tourists observe glaciers and sea ice in Svalbard, north pole, July 14, 2024. Many glaciers in Svalbard are facing severe degradation and melting due to global climate change in recent years. (Photo: VCG)
At a time when global sea surface temperatures in March reached the second highest level ever for that month, this could spell global disaster.
The trend suggests that climate patterns may be shifting toward an El Nino event, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service. University of Reading scientist Ed Hawkins' work confirms 2025 is the third-warmest year on record.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned Wednesday that extreme heat is causing severe disruption to global agrifood systems, putting more than one billion people's livelihoods and health at risk.
In regions such as South Asia, tropical sub-Saharan Africa, and Central and South America, up to 250 days per year may become too hot for outdoor work, costing an estimated 500 billion working hours annually.
'No longer a coincidence'
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, reflecting on the past 11 years (2015-2025) being the hottest on record, stated, "When history repeats itself eleven times, it is no longer a coincidence. It is a call to act."
To address these challenges, the FAO and WMO called for intensified international cooperation in addressing socio-economic barriers in low- and middle-income countries alongside technical solutions to safeguard food security and support a transition to low-emission development.
However, global efforts have come up against the challenges of unilateralism. While the world is striving to reduce emissions, an unbridled US continues to throw up obstacles, Chinese scholar Diao Daming said.
Diao, deputy director of the National Academy of Development and Strategy at Renmin University, now warns of the need to preempt a "demonstration effect" where other countries follow in Washington's footsteps out of international climate agreements.
How many more warnings will it take for US policymakers to finally read the temperature on climate change?