McKenna holds out hope for Paris climate accord

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says there is still time to convince the United States not to withdraw from the Paris climate change accord and an unexpected meeting scheduled for New York next week might be the first step in that direction.

McKenna is one of about a dozen environment and climate ministers from the world’s largest economies who were suddenly invited by White House chief economic adviser Gary Cohn to discuss climate at a breakfast in New York on Monday.

Invitations described it as an opportunity for an “informal exchange of views and discuss how we can move forward most productively” on climate change.

The meeting is being taken by some as an olive branch from a White House whose chief occupant has said climate change is a hoax and who announced in June he intended to withdraw the United States from the Paris accord unless it can be renegotiated in favour of the U.S.

“It’s certainly a sign that the White House is looking at how they can move forward on this issue,” McKenna told The Canadian Press in an interview Wednesday.

Cohn, a registered Democrat, is one of the few people in the Trump administration with a public stance in favour of climate change science.

However, a former special adviser on environment and energy to former president Barack Obama says there is no reason for optimism about the meeting.

“Frankly I think this is Gary Cohn playing at making policy-making because we have seen no evidence that he has any influence on the administration,” said Nathaniel Keohane, now the vice-president of the Environmental Defense Fund.

“When it counted, President Trump went the other way. I would love to be wrong but I don’t see any evidence that I’m wrong.”