BOSTON–Multiple news outlets are now reporting that Donald Trump plans to announce the U.S.’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement at 3pm EST today. Such an announcement would undoubtedly have far-reaching ramifications. But, perhaps most importantly, the announcement does not mean the U.S. will no longer be involved at the UNFCCC. In fact, it would all but ensure the U.S. will continue to undermine and block progress for the next four years.
Please see Corporate Accountability International President Kelle Louaillier’s statement below:
“This decision will have far-reaching implications for people, the planet and the future of the Paris Agreement. But, a U.S. withdrawal would not mean the U.S. government will walk away. In fact, this move would almost guarantee that the Trump administration will exploit the rules of the Paris Agreement, which allow the U.S. to stay at the table for the next four years, to continue to undermine and block climate progress.
Whether it stays or goes, the Trump administration, led by oil industry executives and fossil fuel apologists, will undoubtedly spend the next four years advancing the oily agenda of the fossil fuel industry — all while blocking global progress and trying to starve the U.N. of the resources it needs to operate.
And as it does, the fossil fuel industry has rolled out its slick PR schemes to publicly position itself as a necessary “stakeholder” in the U.N. climate negotiations. All the while, behind the scenes it continues to spend millions of dollars to bankroll climate-change-denying U.S. politicians and undermine national and international climate policy.
Regardless of its final decision, governments around the world must see the U.S. for what it is — a puppet of the fossil fuel industry — and resolve to no longer allow its obstructionism. Governments must also take swift action to protect the process from corporate interference and advance a conflict of interest policy at the next Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 23).
Global South and Global North countries alike have grave concerns with the Trump administration’s head-in-sand views on climate change. The global community must move forward, leave Trump, Tillerson and their oil lackeys behind, and advance lifesaving climate policy now.”
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