G20 summit: All member countries, except US, renew commitment to Paris climate deal
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the leaders had found common ground on climate change despite ‘big differences’ among members.
All members of the G20, except the United States, on Saturday renewed their commitment to the Paris climate deal after two days of talks in the Japanese city of Osaka, AFP reported.
The 19 members agreed to the irreversibility of the 2016 Paris climate deal, and pledged its full implementation. The language in the final statement was similar to that agreed during last year’s G20 in Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires, when most countries had reaffirmed their commitment to the 2016 Paris agreement. They had declared the accord irreversible, and committed to its “full implementation”.
US President Donald Trump said the United States did not agree with the move, and said the countries were “losing a lot of power”, The Independent reported. He added: “We have the cleanest water we have ever had, we have the cleanest air we have ever had, but I am not willing to sacrifice the tremendous power of what we have built up over a long period of time and what I have enhanced and revived.”
The Paris accord attempts to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels. It was signed by 195 countries but President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the agreement in 2017, and disbanded his 15-member federal advisory panel on climate change.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the text on tackling climate change would be similar to the one drafted after the talks at last year’s G20 summit. “A 19+1 declaration,” she told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting. Merkel said the US accepted the determination of the 19 countries to fight climate change but would not commit itself.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday confirmed that the leaders had found common ground on climate change despite “big differences” in the members’ views, DW reported.
The G20 summit concluded on Saturday. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi had participated in the summit, and met several leaders for bilateral matters over three days.