In doing so, the United States has become the first country to turn its back on the framework it played a pivotal role in creating in the early 1990s. “It's a terrible signal of the U.S.’s commitment to international climate action,” says Jake Schmidt, senior strategic director of international climate at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Russia, Iran, Venezuela, countries that are not super strong climate leaders are still party to the agreement. So the U.S. will be the only big outlier in the global international conference.”