A day after President Donald Trump announced the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate change, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt again added his name to a long list of administration officials who refuse to say whether the President believes the science behind climate change, dodging the question Friday.
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China had said all along that regardless of what the United States chose to do, it would keep its commitment to the Paris accord, reports CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy.
President Trump announced this afternoon that the USA will withdraw from the multi-national 2015 agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Bloomberg’s sentiment is echoed by The United States Conference of Mayors, who have vowed to continue their fight at the local level despite the shenanigans in Washington.
Kasim Reed is not alone in his disappointment over President Donald Trump’s decision Thursday to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement. Come and work here with us, work together on concrete solutions for our climate, our environment. This decision is an immoral assault on the public health, safety and security of everyone on this planet.
Youngstown, Ohio, Mayor John McNally (D) said he supports the Paris agreement in a phone interview Friday, adding he was surprised at the shoutout from Trump.
A top European Union official says the EU and China believe that President Donald Trump made a mistake by pulling the United States out of a landmark worldwide climate agreement. “They said that Trump misunderstood -that’s a generous word – their study”.
The withdrawal would leave the USA more or less alone internationally, with just Syria and Nicaragua also not party to the agreement.
Closer to home, two corporate leaders resigned from one of Mr Trump’s advisory councils and several USA city mayors pledged to “stand for environmental justice”.
European leaders have said the Paris accord can not be renegotiated.
“We are already halfway there and we can accelerate our process further even without any support from Washington”, Bloomberg said.
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Later on, President Trump spoke to several world leaders on the phone to explain the rationale behind his decision to exit the Paris climate agreement, said the White House, without divulging the names of the leaders. This would be a significant reduction in the global temperature rise, though much more is needed if the world is to achieve its goal of limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius or less.
