The withdrawal by the US tonight from the Paris Accord on climate change is a bitter but not unexpected blow, delivered by a president adrift from reality and an administration in Washington that appears to be in the pocket of the deeply corrupt fossil fuel industry.
President Trump delivered the news in a rambling, disjointed and largely fact-free address from the White House lawn. His speech offered a chilling insight into his administration’s paranoia and deeply worrying retreat from international diplomacy and into narrow provincialism.
An Taisce expresses in the strongest possible terms its profound dismay at tonight’s events, and urges the Irish government, in concert with our EU partners, to convey to the US in the strongest possible terms Ireland’s commitment to evidence-based science and international solidarity in tackling the vast existential threats posed to us all by climate change.
Trump’s promise to look after Americans first sounds hollow when the fact that climate change is, according to the US military, a major national security threat.
The Climate and Security Advisory Group, a voluntary, nonpartisan group of 43 US-based senior military, national security, homeland security and intelligence experts, briefed Trump on the huge security risks posed by climate change, including collapse of states due to climate-fueled mass migration.
“Reality is non-negotiable. Climate change is fact of life that the international community, despite the decision by the US tonight, will have to continue to develop strategies to cope with”, according to John Gibbons of An Taisce Climate Change Committee. “We are heartened by the decision of the EU and China to redouble their efforts at multilateral cooperation. The US has abandoned its traditional position of international leadership, so others need to step up and fill the vacuum”, he added.
If the rest of the world acts together, including the rest of the United States, Trump’s sideshow can be ignored.
Like Trump though, Ireland’s draft National Mitigation Plan fails to deliver climate action. The finalised Plan, to be delivered this month, requires efforts that actually add up to a rapid transition to a low carbon economy, starting this year not later. An Taisce calls on Ireland’s new Taoiseach to respond positively by ratcheting up efforts to align Ireland’s climate action with meeting the Paris Agreement targets.
ENDS
For further information, contact:
John Gibbons, An Taisce Climate Change Committee: +353 87 233 2689
Charles Stanley-Smith, Communications, An Taisce. Tel: +353 87 241 1995
email: publicaffairs@antaisce.org
An Taisce The National Trust for Ireland i
www.antaisce.org
Notes
About An Taisce
An Taisce is a charity that works to preserve and protect Ireland’s natural and built heritage. We are an independent charitable voice for the environment and for heritage issues. We are not a government body, semi-state or agency. Founded in 1948, we are one of Ireland’s oldest and largest environmental organisations.
