Stick to openness while defending Paris Agreement

After US President Donald Trump said he would pull out of the Paris agreement on climate change, French President Emmanuel Macron replied that he was on a mission to “make our planet great again”, a play on Trump’s catchphrase, “Make America Great Again”.

Macron has met Trump’s rejection with a celebration of the signing of the historic agreement, which 153 out of 197 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have ratified.

In spite of Trump’s antipathy to the consensus on climate change, which seeks to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions between 2020 and 2030, Macron has adopted a pragmatic approach by engaging him and trying to bring him back on board, after the other leaders of the G20 agreed in Hamburg that the Paris Agreement is irreversible. Macron has recently planed to organize a climate summit to mark the second anniversary of the signing of the Paris Agreement on Dec 12 in France.

The French president has even been rewarded with positive noises from Trump during his visit to Paris on July 13-14 and the concession that “something could be done” on the issue.

Macron’s next task should be to ensure that no further countries follow the US and pull out of the Paris Agreement. For example, Canada followed the US’ lead by abandoning the Kyoto Protocol.

While climate is high on Macron’s agenda, the French president has also said he wants to alter the regulation on trade and investment ... Macron must accept the reality that openness has already benefited his country, the EU and the world ...