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G7 climate row deadlocked but US says Trump 'evolving'
Topic Started: 27 May 2017, 12:49 AM (83 Views)
skibboy
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26 May 2017

G7 climate row deadlocked but US says Trump 'evolving'

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© POOL/AFP | US President Donald Trump (L) listens to Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni during the G7 Summit

TAORMINA (ITALY) (AFP) - A summit of G7 leaders on Friday failed to make progress on narrowing differences between the United States and its partners on climate change, hosts Italy said.

With President Donald Trump still reviewing the US position, Washington is resisting intense pressure to commit to remaining within the framework of the 2015 global accord on curbing carbon emissions.

"The question of the Paris climate accord is still hanging," Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni told a news conference after the leaders held talks on the issue.

Gary Cohn, Trump's economic advisor, said the president had told his colleagues that he regarded the environment as important.

"His views are evolving, he came here to learn," Cohn said. "His basis for decision ultimately will be what's best for the United States."

Gentiloni had gone into the summit acknowledging deep divisions but hoping for some sign of flexibility from the US.

Trump campaigned on a pledge to ditch the United States commitment to applying the 2015 Paris deal, which seeks to curb global warming by cutting carbon emissions.

The United States is the world's biggest emitter after China.

He has yet to act on his threat, having said he would listen to what US partners have to say before making a decision on how to proceed.

Abandoning the Paris agreement would carry a high political cost in Europe and China, where the deal is considered a bedrock of action on climate change, analysts say.

It would also be fiercely opposed at home by the US environment lobby and by American corporations that are now investing heavily in cleaner technology.

The stalemate on climate change was mirrored by divisions between the US and the other six G7 countries over trade and migration at the annual summit, described by officials as the toughest in years.

The meeting is due to conclude on Saturday with a final statement which Italian officials have indicated will be a fifth of the originally planned length -- if it can be agreed at all.

Officials were due to work through the night in an attempt to reach a compromise on the text.

Source: Posted Image .com
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skibboy
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Obama speaks out about climate change as G7 pressure Trump to honour Paris pact

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© How Hwee Young, POOL, AFP file picture | Former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon and then US president Barack Obama shake hands during a ratification of the Paris climate change agreement

Text by Louise NORDSTROM
2017-05-26

Barack Obama on Friday said climate change remains a key challenge for the world, noting a lack of knowledge can fuel public resistance.

His comments came as G7 leaders pressured his successor Donald Trump to honour the Paris climate deal.

The forrmer US president on Friday published an opinion piece in British daily The Guardian, saying he firmly believes that of the world’s current challenges, climate change “is the one that will define the contours of this century more dramatically perhaps than the others”.

“No nation, whether it’s large or small, rich or poor, will be immune from the impacts of climate change,” he wrote.

During his two terms in office, which ended when Donald Trump succeeded him as US leader in January, Obama made climate change one of his top political priorities, pledging under the 2015 Paris agreement to reduce US greenhouse gas emissions by 26-28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. The US is the world’s second largest carbon emitter after China.

In contrast, Trump represented himself as an avowed climate sceptic during his election campaign, casting doubts over the fact that climate change is man-made and promised to exit the UN Paris pact to limit global warming.

On Friday, the leaders of seven wealthy democracies, or the G7, gathered for a summit in Sicily in Italy, prior to which many of them had signalled they intended to push Trump hard on whether he plans to respect the Paris deal or not.

Trump's economic advisor, Gary Cohn, on Friday told the AFP news agency that "the levels that were agreed to [in Paris] by the prior administration would be highly crippling to the US economic growth," and that the president would make a decision on the matter after his return to Washington.

Cohn said Trump "wants to do the right thing for the environment. He cares about the environment. But he also cares very much about creating jobs for American workers".

According to AFP, Washington is currently considering different solutions of which one would be to remain in the 196-nation Paris pact but with the intention of launching a re-examination of US objectives.

Such a solution would allow the US to stay in the negotiations but simultaneously signal to the US electorate a break from the Obama administration’s policies.

Food production a big emitter

In Obama’s opinion piece, which appeared to be published to coincide with the G7 summit, the former US leader focused on the second biggest cause of greenhouse gas emissions after energy emissions: food production and food waste. According to Obama, these issues are not being paid nearly as much attention as they should, and said this could largely be explained by a lack of knowledge.

“People naturally understand that big smokestacks have pollution in them – they understand air pollution, so they can easily make the connection between energy production and greenhouse gases,” he wrote.

“Most people aren’t as familiar with the impact of cows and methane. So part of the problem that we need to address is just lack of knowledge in the general public.”

The way to get there, he wrote, would be to invest more in science and climate-smart innovation, to produce better seeds and better storage, as well as crops that use less water and which are fitter to resist harsher climates.

“All these things can help to make sure that food security exists in poor countries, but it can also help us ensure that, in producing the food that we need to feed the billions of people on this planet, we’re not destroying the planet in the process.”

He also touched on the issue of food waste.

“We have to create a food culture that encourages a demand for healthier, more sustainable food,” he said, but noted it is a “very emotional issue” and that many “people are more resistant to the idea of government or bureaucrats telling us how to eat, what to eat, how to grow it."

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skibboy
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G7 talks: Trump isolated over Paris climate change deal

7 hours ago

Leaders of the G7 group of rich nations have failed to agree a statement on climate change.

Six world leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris accord, the world's first comprehensive deal aimed at reducing greenhouse emissions.

However, the US has refused to recommit to the agreement, saying it will make a decision next week.

Mr Trump, who once dismissed global warming as a "hoax", has previously threatened to pull out of the accord.

This is Mr Trump's first G7 summit - during his first foreign trip.

G7 leaders from the US, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan have agreed a statement on fighting terrorism.

Why is there no deal on climate change?

The final communique issued at the G7 summit in Italy said the US "is in the process of reviewing its policies on climate change and on the Paris Agreement and thus is not in a position to join the consensus on these topics".

However, the other G7 leaders pledged to "reaffirm their strong commitment to swiftly implement the Paris Agreement".

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the discussion on climate change had been "very unsatisfactory", adding "we have a situation of six against one".

Mr Trump tweeted: "I will make my final decision on the Paris Accord next week!"

His economic adviser, Gary Cohn, said Mr Trump "came here to learn. He came here to get smart. His views are evolving... exactly as they should be."

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who is also in Sicily for the meeting, told the BBC earlier that the accord would survive regardless of Mr Trump's position.

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Analysis by James Reynolds, BBC News, Taormina

There is a new fault line within the G7.

An informal G6 (Canada, Japan, the UK, France, Germany, Italy) faces an informal G1 - the US.

The drafters of the summit's final communique had no way of hiding the division which exists on climate change.

The statement noted simply that six countries remained committed to the Paris agreement while the US was in the process of evaluating its participation.

In his closing news conference, Italy's Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni was unable to hide his disappointment with the lack of agreement.

On this subject, the G1 acts alone.

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