Now back to the executive orders signed by President Trump yesterday. One of them was a withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement. NBC5’s Kate Chappell is looking into what that is, and what that could mean for efforts to combat climate change.
Kate Chappell: What are the impacts for everyday people?
Mark Templeton: We’re going to continue to see the increased severity of storm events. The climate change damages just in the United States are estimated at $100 billion a year.
KC: Professor Mark Templeton, the director of the Abrams Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Chicago, expects continued state action to be critical.
MT: Through something called the Clean Energy Jobs Act, or the Future Energy Jobs Act, to secure investments in clean, renewable energy, in infrastructure and deployment, in Illinois.
KC: The withdrawal is expected to take about a year. The US will join Libya, Yemen and Iran as the only nations not part of the Paris Agreement.