BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, adding her voice to a global chorus of defiance and criticism after President Trump said he would pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord,
expressed profound regret at the decision, declaring on Friday, “This
decision cannot and will not deter all of us who feel obliged to protect
this earth.”
Ms.
Merkel spoke with Mr. Trump by telephone about the decision on
Thursday, then gave a three-minute statement on Friday in Berlin that
was broadcast live by German television stations.
In tones similar to that of President Emmanuel Macron of France, who on Thursday invited American scientists
to continue their environmental work in his country, Ms. Merkel said,
“We will gather all our strength — in Germany, in Europe and in the
world — to meet the great challenges of humanity, like climate change, and to successfully master these challenges.”
With
sweeping language that the chancellor rarely uses, she added, “For all
for whom the future of this planet is important, I say: Let us continue
along this path together, so that we are successful for our Mother
Earth.”
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Mr. Trump’s rebuke of the agreement signed by 195 nations in 2015 deepened a trans-Atlantic rift laid bare during a recent NATO summit meeting in Brussels and a Group of 7 meeting in Italy,
when the American president lectured other leaders on trade, climate
and military spending. On Thursday, the leaders of France, Germany and
Italy issued a joint statement rejecting Mr. Trump’s assertion that he
would renegotiate the climate accords.
And officials around the world
said that they would press for the climate agreement to be respected
regardless of the American decision. “I can assure you, France will not
give up the fight,” Mr. Macron said. With a twist on Mr. Trump’s
campaign slogan, he added: “Make our planet great again.”
U.S. to Leave Paris Climate Accord. What Happens Now?
Brad Plumer, a climate reporter for
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decision today that he will withdraw from the landmark global warming
agreement.
By BRAD PLUMER, A.J. CHAVAR and SUSAN JOAN ARCHER on
Publish Date June 1, 2017.
Photo by Doug Mills/The New York Times.
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In
a statement, the Japanese government called Mr. Trump’s decision
“regrettable.” But the environment minister, Koichi Yamamoto, was more
strident in comments he made to reporters, saying that Mr. Trump had
“turned his back on the wisdom of human beings.”
Ms.
Merkel, invoking her background as a scientist and a veteran of more
than 20 years of international efforts to protect the planet, noted that
it was especially important to help developing nations meet the
challenges of global warming. Fiji, among the island nations most
threatened by rising sea levels, is to be the focus of the next
international conference on climate change, in November in Bonn,
Germany.
The chancellor said that Fiji could count on Germany and France for support.
Environmental
issues are especially important to German voters and to Ms. Merkel, who
made her mark in international politics in the 1990s by shepherding an
environmental agreement and the Kyoto climate pact, later rejected by President George W. Bush.
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“What
we began over 20 years ago and continued in Paris one and a half years
ago with a historic quantum leap will lead to success,” Ms. Merkel said.
“The
path, there is no doubt about it, is rocky,” she added. “I have known
that ever since I started in politics. But I am also convinced, if I
look back at these more than 20 years, that the path is irreversible.”
Ms. Merkel embraced the actions of companies
and American states determined to carry out plans to safeguard the
environment. “I am so moved and enthused that so many states and
enterprises in the United States of America want to travel this path
with us,” she said. “We will travel it together.”
Thirty
mayors, three governors, more than 80 university presidents and more
than 100 businesses in the United States are preparing to submit a plan
to the United Nations pledging to meet the country’s greenhouse gas
emissions targets under the Paris Agreement.
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