Share

EU, China to reaffirm support for climate pact

I know many of you share my disappointment with the White House’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement.

Advertisement

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who directed One World Trade Center and the Kosciuszko Bridge to be lit green, also committed New York State to meeting the standards of the agreement. With the work of our organization, our members, our volunteers and many others, we have reached the point where the transition to a low-carbon economy is inevitable, but making the transition remains urgent.

“But even in the absence of American leadership; even as this administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future; I’m confident that our states, cities and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way, and help protect for future generations the one planet we’ve got”, Obama added.

Trump mentioned Pittsburgh multiple times during his speech on Thursday saying, “I was elected to represent Pittsburgh, not Paris”.

“The bottom line is that the Paris accord is very unfair at the highest level to the United States”.

The cost of a barrel of crude slumped 2.4 percent, or $1.18, to $47.18 in electronic trading in NY on Friday, hours after Trump said the US would immediately stop implementing the Paris deal. In an open letter this week, the mayors of 61 USA cities promised to still meet commitments agreed to under the Paris deal.

Republican politicians and representatives of the coal industry cheered Trump’s action.

“I am not very happy with the idea that we might now work even more closely with China than we are able to do with the Americans”, he said just hours before Trump was expected to announce his decision to pull the USA out of the 2015 Paris accord on climate change.

Trump agreed with many conservatives that the agreement harmed the US economy and would have killed American jobs.

Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe also expressed interest in joining the new pact.

China had said all along that regardless of what the United States made a decision to do, it would keep its commitment to the Paris accord, reports CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy.

“We can not overlook the fact that climate change remains one of the biggest environmental risks to humanity”.

Adidas restated its sustainability messages following Trump’s announcement.

“We at Under Armour are disappointed by the Administration’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement as climate change continues to threaten our planet, our cities and our economies”.

But he said that the poorest nations, from Afghanistan to Zambia, had no plans to quit the Paris Agreement.

The government of one of Africa’s largest economies said the decision damaged the rule of law and “trust between nations”, adding that the USA has a “moral obligation” to support poorer countries in the global effort against climate change.

Advertisement

Macron’s dig at Trump came amidst a tidal wave of global condemnation for the US president’s move.

FILE  Getty Images