As Donald Trump‘s advisers seek a way out of the historic Paris climate change agreement, it appears the current administration doesn’t intend to let them succeed without a fight. United States Secretary of State John Kerry said the Obama administration will attempt to prevent Trump from leaving the Paris agreement. Before his address at COP22 in Marrakech, Kerry said, “This is bigger than one person, one president. We have to figure out how we’re going to stop this.”
Kerry’s address at COP22 never mentioned Trump by name. But the Secretary of State delivered a call for action that seemed to be aimed at the president-elect. He asked for leaders in positions of power around the world to research the reality of climate change as they make decisions, and to listen to the voices of faith leaders, Fortune 500 businessmen, economists, farmers, and military leaders who take the threat of climate change seriously.
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“Do your own due diligence before making irrevocable choices…And above all, consult with the scientists who have dedicated their entire lives to expanding our understanding of this challenge, and whose work will be in vain unless we sound the alarm loud enough for everyone to hear. No one has a right to make decisions that affect billions of people based on solely ideology or without proper input,” Kerry said in his speech.
In his comments before the speech, Kerry didn’t provide many specifics on how the Obama administration might stop Trump. But he did leave the world with a warning at his last UN climate conference address: “We don’t get a second chance. The consequences of failure would in most cases be irreversible…So we have to get this right, and we have to get it right now.”
At COP22, the United States released one of the first long-term climate strategies along with Mexico, according to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Under the strategy, America aims to reduce emissions by 80 percent under 2005 levels by 2050.
Via The Guardian
Images via screenshot and Wikimedia Commons
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