The Paris agreement is a mostly voluntary climate pact originally written to both try to reduce warming and withstand the changing political winds in the U.S.

Trump signed an executive order that begins the process of withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement, which he also did during his first term.

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