Trump Administration’s IPCC No-Show Is “Abdication of Global Leadership”
Washington, D.C. — The Trump administration will not participate in next week’s United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meetings, according to news coverage published today. The move comes as the body prepares a series of important reports to inform the world on the latest climate science and needed policies to address the global threat.
The United States is the only country in the world that has signaled it will not participate. The news follows the administration’s departure from the Paris Agreement, erasure of key climate data and programs, shuttering of USAID international climate programs, and statements from prominent officials publicly downplaying the potential impacts of climate change, despite overwhelming scientific consensus.
Following is reaction from Yamide Dagnet, international senior vice president at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):
“Given this new administration’s concerted effort to minimize attention to the threat of climate change, this action may not be surprising. But that does not make it any less galling, since it results in further abdication of global leadership and continues pushing the country into outlier status.
“Science is at the heart of what has made America great. It has fueled innovation and helped us better understand the world. Yet, we keep witnessing efforts to minimize science, as well as the American products and investments that can help prevent the worst impacts of climate change.
“Failing to admit the climate realities facing Americans and the rest of the world—including North Carolina’s hurricane victims and those made homeless by the fires in Los Angeles—does not make the country safer. Instead, it opens space for other countries to reap the economic gains that come from the clean energy solutions to the climate crisis, while also shutting the door to needed adaptive approaches.”
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).