Greens call for global resistance to Donald Trump’s withdrawal from Paris Agreement

Speaking ahead of a lunchtime protest against the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Change Agreement, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan TD said: “Every one of us can play a part in resisting the disastrous actions Donald Trump announced last night. We will start by holding a protest outside the US embassy in Ballsbridge this lunchtime to condemn what he is doing.

“The best response to Trump’s announcement is increased ambition in tackling climate change. The Irish Government needs to now change tack. We cannot express our disappointment about what the Americans are doing and at the same time continue to let Ireland be a real laggard when it comes to taking climate action.

“We have everything to gain by making the radical leap to a new clean economy. We will continue to attract investment from those thousands of American companies that are now also joining the resistance to what Trump is doing.

“It is time to work with our European colleagues to introduce diplomatic sanctions against the American administration.  It is hard to see how the US can continue to play a leading role in International organisations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) when they are abandoning the Paris Agreement and the co-operation it entails.

“As Angela Merkel stated last week the American and British administrations can no longer be trusted when it comes to international co-operation. Our response has to be to join those countries who are ramping up their ambition to implement what we have committed to in Paris.  Perhaps in a strange way Trump’s period in office will prove to be a force that galvanises us into action.”