Trump vows Paris Agreement pull out; world unites behind green economy
The 22nd United Nations climate summit began as a wonky, low-profile affair. Nearly 200 nations, finally agreeing to keep the world from burning up, began writing the rulebook by which the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement could be achieved, while seeking the trillions needed to move quickly away from fossil fuels to a green-energy economy. Then things blew up. On the second day of the two-week COP22 conference, American voters elected Republican nominee Donald Trump as president, the guy who calls climate change “a hoax” perpetuated by the Chinese. Trump didn’t wait to put his hand on the Bible to begin undermining the global environment, along with the will of the international community: he vowed this week to withdraw the US from its carbon-reduction commitments in the Paris Agreement as quickly as possible. He also recommended an avowed climate denier, Myron Ebell, to head the EPA. Suddenly, the Marrakesh meeting had a new, and urgent, storyline.
