Hawaii Becomes First State to Sign Law Aligning with Paris Agreement

Though the details and deadline of this proposal are limited, thousands of American mayors and state Governors have insisted that they would be following the Paris Accord at a state and city-wide level.

President Trump made a decision to pull the USA out of the agreement last Thursday.

The Climate Mayors network formed in 2014 so that mayors representing 289 cities across the country could work together to strengthen efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support initiatives to establish federal and global climate policies.

This week, Helena Commissioner Andres Haladay proposed a resolution saying the city will support the Paris agreement by joining the Mayors National Climate Change Action Agenda.

Former President Barack Obama promised to cut greenhouse gasses 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025 and commit $3 billion in aid to poorer countries.

"If the president is going to be AWOL in this profoundly important human endeavor, then California and other states will step up", Brown said.

The resolution says the state is projected to lose 11,000 outdoor recreation jobs and $281 million in labor earnings in recreation and tourism by 2050 as a result of climate change, and that the city is being directly threatened as well. They are now in the process of creating their first Climate Action Plan to develop strategies reach their emission goals.

The governor also signed HB 1578 (Act 033), which establishes the Carbon Farming Task Force within the Office of Planning to identify agricultural and aquacultural practices to improve soil health and promote carbon sequestration - the capture and long-term storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide to mitigate climate change.

The resolution notes that the Paris Agreement, reached in 2015, would commit nearly every country in the world to act to limit the global temperature increase to less than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Nicaragua didn't sign the agreement due to their complaints about the agreement not going far enough, not being binding and not holding large countries accountable (which is correct on at least the latter two accounts, given that the U.S. was able to pull out so easily to benefit oil executives).

The Paris Climate Agreement is an agreement which was signed by 195 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change members.

"We will continue to lead", the statement said.

The resolution is scheduled to come before City Council on Thursday.