Although both the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement intend to combat climate change, there are significant differences between them. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a UN-led scientific and intergovernmental body that gives the world a clear scientific view of current knowledge about climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences. In June 2017, President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement. However, the withdrawal cannot be officially launched until 4 November 2019 and would not take effect until a year later. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has hinted that it will continue to negotiate the Paris rules and remain in the agreement under revised terms. The IPCC notes that climate change is limited only by a „substantial and sustainable reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.“ While the benefits of presenting a single global temperature threshold as a dangerous climate change can be discussed, the general scientific view is that an increase in global temperatures of more than 2 degrees Celsius would be an unacceptable risk – potentially leading to mass extinctions, more severe droughts and hurricanes, and an arid region. While it is not clear that global warming will cause „sudden and irreversible changes“ in Earth`s systems, the risk of exceeding the threshold only increases if temperatures rise. COP23 has made considerable progress in implementing clear and comprehensive guidelines for the implementation of the Paris Agreement, making the agreement operational. EU heads of state and government agree to make the EU climate neutral at a European Council meeting in Brussels by 2050.

The countries most affected by the effects of climate change will be low-lying nations, particularly vulnerable to sea level rise, and developing countries that do not have the resources to adapt to changes in temperature and precipitation. But prosperous nations like the United States are also increasingly vulnerable. In fact, millions of Americans – especially children, the elderly and the poor – are already suffering from the wrath of climate change. „A safer, safer, more prosperous and freer world.“ In December 2015, President Barack Obama envisioned leaving today`s children when he announced that the United States, along with nearly 200 other countries, had committed to the Paris Climate Agreement, an ambitious global action plan to combat climate change.