Macron Insists Trump Sticks to Paris Climate Agreement

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.