Two GW deans denounced President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord saying the move would hurt U.S. leadership in the world and prevent the country from seriously combatting climate change.

Trump announced Thursday that the U.S. would leave the international agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions saying the pact hurts American workers and businesses.

Reuben Brigety, the dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs, signed onto an op-ed in Foreign Policy magazine with nearly 20 other scholars and former Obama administration officials to condemn the move. The authors of the piece wrote that withdrawing from the agreement will have “serious, irreversible repercussions for the United States and the world.”

“Pulling out of Paris will call into question the word of the United States and weaken our ability to call on other countries to work with us on other global threats,” experts wrote in the op-ed.

Authors wrote that China would take advantage of divisions between European allies, who strongly support the agreement, and the United States. They said the Chinese economy would gain jobs in the renewable energy industry that could have been generated in the United States.

“The rest of the world won’t be standing still and neither should we if we want to advance American security and prosperity,” the article states.

Lynn Goldman, the dean of the Milken Institute of Public Health, said in a press release that leaving the Paris agreement is a symbol to the world that the United States is not seriously combatting the threat of rising sea levels, deadly diseases and natural disasters that scientists say a warming climate will bring.

“All of us, including legislators, scientists, public health leaders, consumers and business leaders, have roles to play in achieving a cleaner, more sustainable world,” she said in the statement. “Our health and the health of the planet depend on it.”