Allison Chatrchyan

Climate Change Education and Stakeholder Engagement Director, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Allison Chatrchyan teaches international environmental law and policy at Cornell Law School and is the Stakeholder Engagement Director of the AI-Climate Institute at Cornell University.

Chatrchyan says:

“Global progress in addressing climate change has been plodding along slowly under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Paris Agreement, but the election of Donald Trump will certainly create a sonic wave through the system. 

“It is highly likely that the Trump administration will again submit formal notification of the United States withdrawal from the Paris Agreement to the United Nations (as it did in 2019). Yet under the rules of the treaty, this will take place one year from delivery of the notification. In the meantime, United States leadership, which is sorely needed, will dissipate.  

“The current U.S. Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), submitted in April 2021, commits the United States to a greenhouse gas emissions target of 50–52% below 2005 by 2030, and a net zero target by 2050, largely to be met by the investments through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). 

“While it is unlikely that the Trump administration will fully repeal the IRA, this administration has promised to heavily invest in oil and gas production — antithetical to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) calls for urgent and integrated global climate action.”