[JURIST] The US Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved [press release] $51.35 billion in funding on Thursday for state and foreign appropriations [text, PDF], including $10 million to help fund the UN agency that oversees the Paris Climate Agreement. In June President Donald Trump announced [JURIST report] that the US will no longer be part of the Paris climate accord.

According to many experts, climate change [JURIST backgrounder] as a result of global greenhouse gas emissions is one of the most pressing and controversial environmental issues facing the international community today. In July California In November, for the first time in history, governments around the world agreed to legally binding limits on global temperature rises as the Paris Agreement on climate change became effective [JURIST report]. In October the threshold for entry into force of the Paris Agreement was achieved [JURIST report]. The threshold of 55 parties making up more than 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions triggered the entry into force of the agreement.