Steps to address climate change are irreversible, world leaders declare in Marrakech

Source: Washington Post

As the international meeting on climate change neared a close in Morocco on Thursday, parties endorsed a strong statement declaring that the “momentum is irreversible” when it comes to global action on climate change. In the wake of the Nov. 8 U.S. election, that statement may have been aimed at one specific climate-change doubter, President-elect Donald Trump.

“We call for the highest political commitment to combat climate change, as a matter of urgent priority,” the statement, endorsed by heads of state, declared. The Marrakesh gathering is the first official meeting under the Paris climate agreement that was signed by 195 countries late last year and ratified by enough of them to bring it into force in less than a year. During the meeting, additional nations ratified the accord, including major emitters Australia, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom.

The newly released document doesn’t mention Trump, but it’s hard not to read it in its current political context.

“While this proclamation has long been planned, it’s taken on far greater symbolic and political significance in the wake of Trump’s threats to withdraw from the Paris Agreement,” said former Clinton White House climate official Paul Bledsoe, who was attending the negotiations.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/11/18/paris-accord-nations-resolve-to-push-ahead-on-climate-change-goals-with-or-without-the-u-s/?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.f7d11407dfe0