Carol Franco is a research associate at Virginia Tech and helped negotiate the Paris Accord on climate change for her native Dominican Republic. She says the Accord is only in affect until 2030 – when it would be reevaluated – and adds that President Trump’s decision to abandon the international agreement makes reaching the stated goals more difficult. Franco says she is “hopeful” that the other 194 countries in the Paris Accord will stay the course; she was also there in 2015 to witness the document’s signing.
