US isolated as allies vow action on climate change

Bologna, Italy, June 12: US allies in the G7 said on Monday that action to contain devastating climate change was irreversible and could even be accelerated, despite Donald Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris accord.

A two-day meeting of environment chiefs from the Group of Seven club of industrialised democracies ended with the US again disassociating itself from a statement underlining the importance of implementing the 2015 Paris deal on curbing carbon emissions. Mr Trump’s representative at the meeting, Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environment Protection Agency, was unrepentant, insisting US action spoke louder than words.

“Respective of the importance to engage with longstanding allies and key international partners, we approached the climate discussions head on from a position of strength and clarity” he said in a statement.

“We are resetting the dialogue to say Paris is not the only way forward to making progress... (Paris) is not the only mechanism by which environmental stewardship can be demonstrated,” added Mr Pruitt, who had left the meeting on Sunday to attend Mr Trump’s first full cabinet meeting on Monday.

French minister Nicolas Hulot said US allies were determined not to let Mr Trump’s climate stance “poison” cooperation on other ecological issues, and said the world could work around the US position, even though it is a damaging one.