As he has made clear at the last two G-7 summits. President Donald Trump does not want climate change on the conference’s agenda in 2020.
Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said Thursday that the meeting of the seven democratic, industrialized countries will not talk climate change, the Washington Post reported.
(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
“Climate change will not be on the agenda,” Mulvaney said.
Trump skipped the climate change discussion at this year’s G-7 summit in France. He did the same in 2018, when the conference was hosted by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Quebec.
Trump summarized his objection to some climate change legislation at this year’s G-7 summit, saying, “I’m not going to lose that wealth on dreams, on windmills,” the Post noted.
Trump promised to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, and followed through. White House aides said at the time that the administration would withdraw from the Paris accord using a mechanism for that purpose entrenched in the treaty — the earliest the United States can officially leave will be in 2020 — just before the upcoming G-7 summit. Global CO2 emissions continued to climb after the agreement was signed in 2016, reaching record levels by 2017. (RELATED: House Democrats Spread ‘Lies’ About Climate Change And Hurricanes Scientist Says)
The upcoming conference will be held at the Trump National Doral Miami resort. Although Trump previously announced that decision, the location has sparked controversy among both liberals and conservatives.
Besides showing his skepticism towards assumptions that G-7 nations can significantly curb carbon emissions in the absence of China’s cooperation, the president and his inner circle have been agitated to find the subject matter arising at G-7 conferences, the Post reported, citing anonymous sources. (RELATED: BBC Says We Only Have 18 Months To Save The Planet From Climate Change)
(AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images)
Trump has questioned why climate change has become the issue du jour at G-7 summits, that are supposed to be focused on economic policy and trade issue, the Post said.
Trump’s intransigence on discussing climate change has reportedly kept his European and Canadian counterparts from issuing joint statements on the subject. The Post cites a senior foreign diplomat as suggesting there was shared desire not to isolate the United States.