In lieu of national participation in the Paris Agreement on climate change the cities of the United States should join the agreement on their own, Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy for cities and climate change, said in remarks delivered to the China General Chamber of Commerce. “If the Trump administration does withdraw from the Paris accord, I will recommend that the 128 U.S. mayors who are part of the Global Covenant of Mayors seek to join in its place,” Bloomberg said in a written statement adapted from his remarks.
During his campaign, Trump threatened to “cancel” the Paris Agreement. However, under the agreement nations may not pull out for four years following its entry into force, which occurred Nov. 4. Trump has reportedly been looking into other ways to pull out of the agreement, including withdrawing the U.S. from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the environmental treaty under which the agreement was struck.
According to Bloomberg, even if Trump does find a way to wiggle out of the agreement, the U.S. will reach its stated goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions 26-28 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. “I am confident that no matter what happens in Washington, no matter what regulations the next administration adopts or rescinds, no matter what laws the next Congress may pass, we will meet the pledges that the U.S. made in Paris,” Bloomberg said. “The reason is simple: Cities, businesses and citizens will continue reducing emissions, because they have concluded — just as China has — that doing so is in their own self-interest.”
Trump cannot stop climate action at the sub-national level, Bloomberg noted. “Washington will not have the last word on the fate of the Paris agreement in the U.S. — mayors will, together with business leaders and citizens.”