The future of humanity lies in the balance.

Every country on earth minus Syria and Nicaragua have signed up to the Paris Accords, the agreements that aimed to limit the warming since 1750 to no more than 2°C.

Nicaragua is one of the countries that has been most strident in raising the issues around climate change and the potential impacts on its citizens. It is also investing into its renewable energy capacity, as it plans to wean itself off its oil dependency.

Nicaraguan president Paul Oqiust did not sign the landmark agreement on the basis that there were insufficient means to punish nations that did not meet the targets set in 2015. Syria did not sign it due to the ongoing war in the nation, itself  sometimes partially attributed to climate change in addition to the religious and political conflict in the Middle East.

Another objection was that the 2°C degree target misses that feedback loops could kick in that could accelerate climate change to well beyond 2°C. For example warming oceans absorb less carbon dioxide, which in turn will increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The importance of the USA cannot be understated. While coal and other fossil fuels are undoubtedly going to face a combination of economic and political pressure that will create complications for their business models, the USA would be sending out a terrible message to the rest of the world if it flat out abandons the Paris agreement.

The decision to abandon it is based entirely on President Donald Trump’s belief that climate change is not occurring. Famously he once tweeted that the “concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non competitive”.

An ideologically driven opposition to the science of climate change would be insufficient grounds to abandon an agreement that would aim to limit the damage to humanity of climate change.

Passing beyond the 2°C threshold would result in a clear danger to the future of humanity by creating pressure on water resources, making it difficult for farmers to operate in Africa and Asia, and by rising sea levels, which would put many of the world’s coastal regions at risk.

Further feedback loops could result in lives of unimaginable hardship for billions. Hence it is of paramount importance that the US shows global leadership by sticking to the Paris Agreement and collaborating to help prevent the destruction of most of the human race.