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THE UNITED STATES has announced it will still take part in international climate change negotiations in order to protect its interests, despite its planned withdrawal from the Paris accord on global warming.
Two months after President Donald Trump announced the US would abandon the 2015 global pact, his administration confirmed it had informed the United Nations (UN) of its “intent to withdraw from the Paris Agreement” — a process that will take until at least 2020.
But in a statement, the State Department said Washington was still committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and engaging with the international community on combating climate change.
“We will continue to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions through innovation and technology breakthroughs, and work with other countries to help them access and use fossil fuels more cleanly and efficiently and deploy renewable and other clean energy sources,” the statement said.
It added: “The United States will continue to participate in international climate change negotiations and meetings … to protect US interests and ensure all future policy options remain open to the administration.
“Such participation will include ongoing negotiations related to guidance for implementing the Paris Agreement.”
Trump sparked widespread international criticism when he announced on 1 June that he had decided to pull the world’s largest economy out of the painstakingly-negotiated accord, in line with his pledge to voters in last year’s election.
Open to re-engaging?
While Trump said he was open to a renegotiation of the pact, the suggestion was swiftly shot down by fellow world leaders who said it was non-negotiable.
Speaking on a visit to Paris last month, Trump again raised the prospect of a change in policy by saying “something could happen” regarding US participation in the accord but gave no details.
Yesterday’s statement reiterated that Trump was “open to re-engaging” in the pact if the US could “identify terms that are more favorable to it, its businesses, its workers, its people, and its taxpayers”.
Andrew Steer, president of the US non-profit World Resources Institute, said the letter implied a level of ambiguity that could indicate a desire to remain engaged.
“The United States could engage constructively in those negotiations on an issue such as transparency,” he said.
But a climate loner that is intent on withdrawing from the Paris Agreement will not be listened to if it aims to weaken or undermine the accord in any way.
The US is the world’s second biggest producer of greenhouse gases after China and its withdrawal was a seen as a big blow to the Paris agreement.
The accord commits signatories to efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, which is blamed for melting ice caps and glaciers, rising sea levels and more violent weather events.
They vowed steps to keep the worldwide rise in temperatures “well below” two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial times and to “pursue efforts” to hold the increase under 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Despite notifying the UN of its intention to withdraw, the United States will not be able to formally pull out of the accord until 2020 at the earliest.
However, Trump has previously said his country would cease implementation immediately.
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Sad indictment on society’s values when thousands of people are being killed daily in many countries and no one really cares but because these are the rich and famous losing their luxury mansions, there is massive media coverage and public shock horror.
@David F: What are you talking about?! These are the very people who make our dreams come true! They also tirelessly work around the clock rallying for causes for those without a voice. There ought to be a Band Aid type concert in all the global cities to raise the necessary funds to rebuild their mansions. If it wasn’t for Cary Elwes, my son and I would never have had fun drinking iocaine powder. That memory alone is priceless.
@Pól Pot: And the poor things all still depressed over Kamalalla losing!
How bad can it get?
There are pensioners in their homes now in Ireland who cannot put on heating to warm their homes because costs of heating are way over the top.
I guarantee you knew there are people who are literally freezing.Are we supposed to feel sorry for these multi millionaires and billions who have homes all over the world, who have made their money through the likes of pensioners and the like.
Hell no not me anyway that’s for sure, suck it up you have earned it.
@Phillip Smyth: You know you can feel sorry for more than one set of people at any one time right? I feel sorry for anyone who has been affected by the cold weather here and has been without power for up to 5 days. I hope that they are able to stay warm, get hot food delivered at least and that they’re electricity is restored too.
I can also feel sorry for individuals who have lost homes to a devastating wildfire that they have raised families in and had so many memories in. Yes they are probably in a better position to rebuild and move on than most but it still doesn’t make it less sad for them to have to flee with just what they can carry and watch their home burn to the ground.
Empathy doesn’t have to be limited.
@Susan Walsh: in this instance it does.
@Phillip Smyth: Why? Like legitimately, why? Can you not feel for people who’ve lost their homes? I mean Billy Crystal was in his for 45 years. Yes he can afford to rebuild, but you can never get back the house you raised your family in.
Actual empathy is feeling for another person no matter their wealth or social status.
@Susan Walsh: it’s crystal clear on my part, I m sorry but I don’t feel sorry for these people their circumstances allow me to be honest.
@Phillip Smyth: you’re not supposed to do anything, Phillip. It’s your choice whether you want to feel sorry for them, or not
@Susan Walsh: majority of them are pro Zionists and use their power, money and influence to oppress and murder Palestinians while denying them even the right to give voice to their oppression. Hollywood, specifically the inhabitants of the Hollywood hills are a substantial chunk of the financial power of AIPAC.
@Phillip Smyth: You’re a pretty pathetic lowlife dirtbag buddy. How on earth did a movie star make their money off the back of a pensioner? Was it unfair that the pensioner didn’t get some government-mandated role in the film? The reason that these people are rich and successful is because people chose to go watch their films in the cinema and on streaming services because they were of high quality. People like you are the problem with the world. You envy those who work hard and have become successful because you’re stuck in whatever mundane job you work instead of using them as inspiration to pull your stock up and knuckle down. I will always have more sympathy for millionaires and billionaires if their house burns down than I would for envious little brats like yourself if yours did.
@Phillip Smyth: Empathy is objectively not limited. No one is saying you have to feel sorry for anyone, but it is possible to have empathy for many people. We don’t get a finite number of empathy points per day and have to choose who we use them on. Not an opinion to go back and forth on, just fact.
I feel bad for Anthony Hopkins.
@Fergus O’Donnell: I feel bad for everyone it’s happened to but the likes of Hopkins probably has multiple houses, unlike the ordinary folks’ whose homes are gone and the whole communities that have been destroyed.
@Dermot Blaine: Those famous names are probably the best insured and able to recover, but there’s a bit more to it than money for them. Like what Billy Crystal is talking about regarding memories living in the home for 46 years, or in a previous fire season the guy that lost a rare car collection had been building up over 50 years.
Would tend to have a lot more sympathy for those ordinary types who have been finding getting fire insurance ever-increasingly difficult over the years of these events happening more frequently.
A lot more sympathy for the families and friends of the first responders that keep putting their lives on the lines.
@Dermot Blaine: don’t feel bad for this guy but there are thousands of impoverished people living in tents in California, multiple fires in tents ever week trying to keep warm, this is the California that they don’t want you to know about
@peter hopkins: The fact that the term ‘skid row’ has been around for o long, that a metal band used it as their name back in 1988 is quite telling. That some seem to be more concerned about changing the nomenclature of it, rather than solving it, is saddening.
@peter hopkins: yeah, there’s a shockingly bad homeless and drug problem, especially in San Francisco.
That famous Irish invention known as begrudgery is on full display here today.
Meanwhile, all over Ireland persons unbeknown are sleeping on card board! Where is reporting on that? Has TheJournal offered warm meals or even a shelter ? And to ask for €2 a month. The journalists of TheJournal should watch film Paper Moon. Con artists
Journal have you shut this down in favor of multi millionaires and government censorship?
James Woods too. lol.
Would the people empathising with James Woods new homelessness status find equal empathy for the 40 to 180 thousand Gazans that the IDF have already killed in Gaza or the hundreds of thousands that face homelessness in Gaza from Zionist indiscriminate bombing of their homes. Is he proud to have urged the Israeli government to “kill them all ?”
@michael mcsharry: 180,000 people? Even Hamas isn’t claiming those numbers, you absolute clown. If you don’t want civilian infrastructure to be bombed, tell your buddies in Hamas to stop building their missile launching sites and command centres beside schools, hospitals and homes. Why hasn’t Hamas built a single bomb shelter in the entirety of Gaza in the 18 years that they’ve been in charge? Why don’t Hamas let civilians enter their underground tunnel system? In any case, the fact that James Woods had the courage to say that makes me respect him even more and have even more sympathy for what happened to his house.
@michael mcsharry: Jesus you and people like you are so boring. Parroting the same gick on so many comments sections. You complain about people not caring for Gazans but you and your ilk don’t care that you are antisemitic. Pathetic
Who cares there millionaires and the amount coverage getting . There are people in America leaving on streets what about them
Probably get huge insurance money back so they be ok can stay one other home s
All these celebrities are insured to the hilt, they will not loose out in the long run, they all choose to live in this part of the world known for earthquakes and wildfires. Let’s all calm down with the tears for them, they won’t go hungry or homeless, far more deserving people need help in this world
I’m very, very sad for the loss of their homes and property. Scitt happens.
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