When US President
Donald
Trump called
Emmanuel Macron on May 8 to congratulate
France’s president-elect on his weekend victory, Macron urged his US
counterpart “he is going to protect the climate change agreement, and he is going
to make sure he will be vigilant in protecting the French people,” his
spokeswoman,
Laurence Haim, told CNN.
The new French president is
likely to remain critical of Trump’s climate policies.
Climate change “is a very important and sensitive issue for the French. He told
him (Trump) that he will protect what was made in Paris,” Haim said, Reuters
reported.
Sylvain Lhôte
, Director General at CEPI, told New
Europe on May 9, “The Paris climate change represents a step forward in
achieving global climate change commitments. The absence of a truly global
framework for climate change seriously risks undermining the achievements
already made by industry”.
In February, then-candidate
Macron posted a video in English to Twitter, criticising Trump’s belief that climate
change is a hoax.
“This is a message to
American researchers, entrepreneurs, engineers working on climate change. Last
Saturday (February 4) I invited you to come to France and join European and
French researchers to work on climate change here because here you are welcome.
I do know how your new president now has decided to jeopardise your budget,
your initiatives, as he is extremely skeptical about climate change. I have no
doubt about climate change, and about how committed we have to be regarding this
issue,” Macron said.
“So I have two messages.
The very first one, for the French and European researchers, we will preserve
our budgets, we will reinforce our public and private investment in order to do
more and accelerate our initiative in order to deliver in line with COP21. And
second, a message for you guys. Please, come to France. You are welcome. It’s
your nation. We like innovation. We want innovative people. We want people
working on climate change, energy renewables and new technologies. France is
your nation,” Macron concluded.
Trump has previously vowed
to renegotiate the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, struck by some 200 countries
to combat global warming.
The US President may
reportedly announce a departure from the accord at a May 26-27 summit of the
Group of Seven industrialised nations in Italy.
On that note, Japan’s Prime
Minister
Shinzo Abe is considering sending a letter asking the
Trump Administration not to depart from the Paris Agreement, The Japan Times
quoted a source as saying.
If he decides to send the
letter, it is expected to emphasise the importance of cooperation between all
nations to tackle global warming, without explicitly telling Washington it
should remain committed to the climate framework.
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/macron-insists-trump-sticks-paris-climate-agreement/