When Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from the climate agreement in 2017, the move reverberated around the globe. Nearly 200 nations had committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions under the pact when it was created in 2015, and they had set ambitious targets to keep global temperature rise well below 2°C, and ideally below 1.5°C.

President Donald Trump signed a slew of executive orders on the first day of his second term in office on Monday, and among them were motions to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization (WHO).