The US will take action on greenhouse gases and engage with other countries on the climate emergency despite Donald Trump’s rejection of international cooperation, a delegation from the US Congress has told the UN climate conference in Madrid.
Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, struck a defiant stance on Monday, declaring: Congress’s commitment to action on the climate crisis is iron-clad. This is a matter of public health, of clean air, of clean water, of our children, of the survival of our economies, of the prosperity of the world, of national security, justice and equality. We now must deliver deeper cuts in emissions.
Her rallying call came as developing countries accused the US president of ecocide and the UN secretary-general said the world’s biggest emitters were falling behind.
Ministers and officials from more than 190 countries gathered in Madrid on Monday for the start of two weeks of talks aimed at ironing out technical details of the 2015 Paris agreement, which needs to be completed for nations to focus on the progress on cutting carbon emissions.
We are outraged by the dithering and retreat of one of the most culpable polluters from the Paris agreement, Lois Young, Belize’s permanent representative to the UN and chair of the Alliance of Small Island Developing States, told the conference.
In the midst of a climate emergency, retreat and inaction are tantamount to sanctioning ecocide. They reflect profound failure to honour collective global commitment to protect the most vulnerable.
António Guterres, the UN secretary general, also called for more action from the US, the world’s second biggest emitter after China, warning that some of the world’s biggest economies were failing to cut carbon fast enough.
We see already strong commitment from many governments and the business and financial community the problem is that the most important polluters, the countries that have the biggest [emissions of] greenhouse gases are lagging behind.
He praised the EU for its plans to cut emissions drastically by 2030, and cited China, India, Japan and the US as countries needing to join in to meet the challenge.
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