As continuous research reveals the severity of global climate change, it sounds the alarm many need to hear. Bringing extreme temperature and precipitation changes, warming oceans, rising sea levels, and diminishing the Poles, climate change threatens ecosystems, the global economy, and human health.

France’s Energy Transition for Green Growth Act, set to take full effect in 2020, aims to cease climate change by advocating for green growth. Green growth sustainably uses natural resources for economic development. Not only does the act alleviate global climate change, but also progresses society by providing jobs in a cleaner, healthier place to live. By transitioning the inefficient facilities into sustainable structures, France’s government also boosts their economy, forecasting 100,000 new construction jobs.

As Western Europe toils abrogating climate change ramifications, the United States backpedals, negating global progress. Under the current Trump administration, 76 Environmental protocols underwent rollback and deregulation. Claiming environmental protocol burdens the fossil fuel industry, President Trump prioritizes eliminating federal regulations and limiting scientific and environmental funding. Trump’s rollbacks terminated Obama-era policies aimed to reign in climate change and environmental pollution. Trump revoked The Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan: a diminution on carbon dioxide and methane emissions from coal power plants, on August 21, 2018.

The Clean Power Plan’s degrading successor, The Affordable Clean Energy rule, deregulated all American coal plants, granting states regulatory autonomy. Trump’s new policy entitles the fossil fuel industry to run longer and more cost effectively. Rather than phasing out nonrenewable energy sources, The Trump Administration actively promotes them.

Currently, the U.S. ranks as the second largest greenhouse gas emitter and as the number one waste producer. By targeting greenhouse emissions, total energy consumption, fossil fuel usage, landfill waste, and alternative energy sources, implementing France’s Energy Transition for Green Growth Act would ameliorate America’s alarming environmental disregard.

Although countries vary in their government structure and cultural traditions, all share one thing: the Earth. To ensure a vital future, The United States must adopt France’s Energy Transition for Green Growth Act and encourage other nations to follow.