United States

New climate regulations, the Keystone XL pipeline, and intervention in the Syrian Civil War

In July 2015 the U.S. and Cuba officially reopened embassies in each other’s capital. In August Obama used executive authority to announce new climate regulations requiring U.S. power plants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 32 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2030; however, even before the regulation had been reviewed by a federal appeals court, a lawsuit brought against the action was granted a stay request by the Supreme Court that was to remain in place as the lawsuit made its way through the courts. Environmentalists gained a more permanent victory in November when Obama rejected the proposal to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast. Opponents of the project had argued that extracting the petroleum from tar sands in Alberta would contribute significantly to global warming.

Having admitted in June 2015 that his administration lacked a “complete strategy” to confront ISIL, Obama authorized the deployment of several dozen special-operations troops in Syria in October 2015. That action—which occurred at the same time as growing direct involvement by Russia in the Syrian Civil War—was presented as one component of an evolving strategy that eventually led to talks aimed at effecting a political transition in Syria. In March 2016 Secretary of State Kerry accused ISIL of carrying out a genocide against religious and ethnic minorities in the areas of Syria and Iraq that it controlled and called for an international investigation into atrocities committed by ISIL and punishment for those found to be responsible.