*[Enwl-eng] [can-eecca] Fwd: [CAN-talk] The Guardian: World leadersreact after Trump rejects Paris climate deal

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Jun 3, 2017, 1:15:34 PM6/3/17
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Joint statement by France, Germany and Italy says deal cannot be
renegotiated, while other countries reaffirm commitment to carbon
reduction

Jonathan Watts in Rio de Janeiro and Kate Connolly in Berlin

Thursday 1 June 2017 23.33 EDT

European leaders dismissed Donald Trump’s claim that the Paris climate
accord can be renegotiated after the US president announced he will pull
out of the deal struck in 2015 to seek better terms.

Shortly after Trump’s announcement the leaders of France, Germany and
Italy released a joint statement rejecting Trump’s assertion that the
climate deal can be redrafted.

“We deem the momentum generated in Paris in December 2015 irreversible
and we firmly believe that the Paris Agreement cannot be renegotiated,
since it is a vital instrument for our planet, societies and economies,”
said chancellor Angela Merkel, president Emmanuel Macron and prime
minister Paolo Gentiloni.

The three leaders called on their allies to speed up efforts to combat
climate change and a promise to do more to help developing countries
adapt.

Merkel called Trump immediately after he delivered his announcement, to
personally express her regret at his decision, her spokesman Steffen
Seibert said on Twitter.

During the conversation she stressed that Germany would stick to the
agreement.

He added in another tweet in English: “Chancellor Merkel disappointed
w/Pres. Trump’s decision. Now more than ever we will work for global
policies that save our planet,” he wrote.

Immediately after her call to Trump, Merkel telephoned Macron, he said,
and they agreed that “Germany and France will grasp at new initiatives
in order to ensure the climate agreement is a success”.

In a televised address in French and English, Macron said that
“committed an error for the interests of his country, his people and a
mistake for the future of our planet.”

“I tell you firmly tonight: We will not renegotiate a less ambitious
accord. There is no way,” said Macron. “Don’t be mistaken on climate;
there is no plan B because there is no planet B.”

In contrast, the British government was slow to respond to the
announcement. Downing Street issued a statement saying that Prime
Minister Theresa May had told Trump of her “disappointment” at his
decision and stressed that Britain remained committed to the agreement.

Downing Street sources would not say whether Theresa May had been asked
to sign the letter of condemnation sent by Germany, France and Italy,
but said that she had made her point directly to Trump.

The unyielding response of Italy, France and Germany came amidst a
tsunami of global condemnation for Trump’s decision to renege on an
agreement made by 195 countries after decades of negotiation. The US
will join Syria and Nicaragua as the only governments to be outside the
agreement.

The most furious reaction was in Germany, where tomorrow’s front page of
German tabloid Berliner Kurier carries the blunt headline: “Earth to
Trump: Fuck You”.

Prime ministers of America’s neighbours condemned the decision and
reaffirmed their support for the Paris agreement. In Mexico, Enqrique
Peña Nieto said: “Mexico maintains its support and commitment to the
Paris agreement to stop the effects of global climate change.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Trump to express his
disappointment at the decision, but said he was inspired by “the growing
momentum around the world to combat climate change and transition to
clean growth economies”.

The Vatican said a US pullout represented a “huge slap in the face” for
the pope and a “disaster for everyone”. Pope Francis only days ago met
Trump and impressed on him the importance of protecting the environment
from climate change.

Japan’s foreign ministry said: “Climate change requires a concerted
effort by the whole of the international community. Japan believes the
leadership of the developed countries to be of great importance, and the
steady implementation of the Paris agreement is critical in this regard.
The recent announcement by the US administration on its withdrawal … is
regrettable.”

In stronger comments, the Japanese environment minister Koichi Yamamoto
said: “It’s as if they’ve turned their back on the wisdom of humanity.

“In addition to being disappointed, I’m also angry.”

In Australia, the energy and environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, said
he was disappointed with Trump’s decision but reiterated the
government’s full commitment to meeting its Paris targets. “We believe
that the targets we agreed to, the 26% to 28% reduction in emissions by
2030 on 2005 levels are reasonable, are achievable.”

New Zealand’s climate change minister, Paula Bennett, said that “so much
of what [Trump] said is wrong”, arguing that America was not paying a
disproportionate cost to be part of the deal.

Trump said he was taking his decision to protect US jobs. “We’re getting
out,” the US president had said, in attacking the Paris accord’s
financial burdens as “draconian”.

However, many business leaders say he has handed the advantage in the
key field of renewable energy to rivals in China and the Europe.
Scientists said they feared for their children.

Environmentalists described the decision as a “hugely disappointing”
mistake. Youth groups accused the 70-year-old leader of jeapordizing
their future.

World leaders had already begun preparing for a US exit. China’s premier
Li Keqiang said on Thursday that fighting climate change was a “global
consensus” and an “international responsibility”. The EU and China have
forged a new alliance on climate change and are currently mid-way
through a summit in Brussels at the end of which they will announce
plans to step up efforts.

The EU’s commissioner for climate action and energy, Miguel Arias
Cañete, said Trump’s unilateral decision marked a sad day for the global
community, but he vowed the accord would endure.

“Today’s announcement has galvanised us rather than weakened us, and
this vacuum will be filled by new broad committed leadership. Europe and
its strong partners all around the world are ready to lead the way,” he
said.

The president of the European parliament, Antonio Tajani, said: “It is a
matter of trust and leadership. This decision will hurt the US and the
planet.”

Izabella Teixeira, who lead the Brazilian negotiating team in 2015,
described Trump’s announcement as a “heart attack” but said the world
would survive. She dismissed suggestions that any new deal would have to
ignore US historical emissions. “These are old ideas, old politics,” she
told the Guardian.

United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the decision was a
“major disappointment for global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and promote global security”.

The Indian government did not immediately react to Trump’s announcement,
which came shortly after 1am local time, but India’s energy minister
recently reaffirmed the south Asian giant’s commitment to the global
climate agreement. The world’s third-largest carbon pollution emitter is
on course to exceed the renewable energy targets it set in Paris in 2015
by nearly 50% and three years ahead of schedule.

Trump’s withdrawal announcement came in the late evening in Russia, and
official commentary was not immediately available. But Vladimir Putin’s
spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Thursday that Russia “attaches
great importance” to the Paris climate accord, and a US withdrawal could
complicate the agreement’s implementation.

“Of course, the effectiveness and realisation of this convention will be
hampered without key participants,” Peskov told journalists. “There is
no alternative (to the accord) at this time.”

The US has long been a key – though not always enthusiastic – player in
international efforts to mitigate the already apparent trends of
increasing temperatures, rising sea levels and more frequent and intense
droughts, floods and storms.

Trump is accused of jettisoning this international role and putting the
domestic fossil fuel industry first. Though his term may be too short to
complete the job he has begun.

Lukas Hermwille, scientific researcher in the field of international
climate policy at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and
Energy, drew attention to the fact that the exit from the agreement
would anyway only come into effect in around three years’ time
“ironically”, he told Die Welt, “on the day after the next US
presidential election”. But Trump could still spend the rest of his time
in office torpedoing climate protection from the inside out, he added.

Environmental groups were appalled. Tanya Steele, CEO of WWF said the
decision makes it harder for the world to reach a safer and more
prosperous future. “It is hugely disappointing that President Trump is
making the mistake in rowing back on the Paris agreement,” she said,
“Climate change is a very real global issue that affects the successful
future of our planet.”

Carlos Rittl, executive secretary of the Brazilian Climate Observatory
said the decision “creates the risk of a domino effect” that could put
the target of keeping temperature rises below 2C out of reach, though he
held out hope that global talks can make greater progress in reducing
fossil fuels and promoting renewable energy in the absence of a country
that has flitted back and forth between leadership and obstruction.

Many US city mayors have said they will abide by climate commitments
regardless of the White House U-turn. This was echoed by municipal
leaders overseas.

The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, who chairs a group of 40 major cities,
said: “No matter what decision is made by the White House, cities are
honouring their responsibilities to implement the Paris agreement. There
is no alternative for the future of our planet.”

Additional reporting by Kim Willsher in Paris, Alec Luhn in Moscow and
Michael Safi in Delhi


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From: Fred Heutte <ph...@sunlightdata.com>
Date: 2017-06-02 7:50 GMT+03:00
Subject: [CAN-talk] The Guardian: World leaders react after Trump rejects Paris climate deal
 
Sent: Friday, June 02, 2017 9:32 AM
Subject: [can-eecca] Fwd: [CAN-talk] The Guardian: World leaders react after Trump rejects Paris climate deal




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