Trump Threatens to “Divorce Climate Policy from Science” : Paris Climate Agreement – Trumped?
According to reports from highly regarded news agencies, Reuters and the Associated Press, US President Donald Trump is set to withdraw support for the 2015 Paris climate change agreement on cutting global carbon emissions.
"I will be announcing my decision on the Paris Accord over the next few day. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" said the man himself – via Twitter, of course.
The International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) President, Antonis Antonis Mavropoulos warned that if the reports are true, “it is a clear sign of the divorce between US climate policy and science”.
Reacting to the reports, Anthony Hobley, CEO of the Carbon Tracker Initiative warned: “The abandonment of the Paris Agreement by the Trump administration, if confirmed, is an economic and leadership failure of monumental proportions and will sadly cast the U.S. on the wrong side of history.”
Also infuriated at the apparent readiness to discard an agreement which has been ratified by 147 of 197 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change were U.S. Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.).
The pair have written to President Trump urging his Administration to first consider the substantial foreign relations and national security implications of refusing to remain a party to the Paris agreement.
“In addition to the myriad threats climate change poses to our nation’s military and security apparatus, leaving the Paris agreement would damage relationships with our allies and weaken American leadership on the global stage,” they wrote.
It is a sentiment echoed by Howard Learner, executive director Environmental Law & Policy Center.
“Withdrawing our nation from cooperating with global allies on climate solutions will not make America great again,” he argued. “Instead, President Trump is weakening America’s world leadership on climate solutions.”
Rhea Suh, President of the Natural Resources Defense Council was equally unimpressed:
“If true, this is a reckless and foolish mistake, and our kids will pay the price. The Paris climate accord is a triumph of American leadership. It’s about doing what’s best for our people at home—spurring clean energy innovation and creating millions of good-paying jobs, while protecting our children and communities from pollution. And we got the whole world to join us.
“Trump would be walking away from that American victory, abandoning U.S. climate and clean energy leadership and breaking our promise to the rest of the world. Foreign leaders would remember that the next time we need their cooperation on what’s important to us.
“This is not putting America first: It’s putting fossil fuel profits ahead of the national interest. We have a right to demand better from our president and to fight for our children’s future.”
However, as yet there has been no formal announcement and no official decision. At 2.47pm yesterday, 31 May Phillip Rucker, the well connected White House Bureau Chief at The Washington Post tweeted: “I'm told Trump hasn’t made a final decision on Paris as of this AM & has climate meetings today.”
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