G7 talks dominated by USA quitting accord

Following President Trump's announcement of US' withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate change made on 1 June 2017, a number of USA federal states and cities passed legislation or pledged action to uphold the commitments and goals of the Paris Agreement.

Presenting the communique, Italy's environment minister, Gian Luca Galletti, called the Paris accord "irreversible, non-negotiable and the only instrument possible to combat climate change".

"Accordingly, the United States does not join those sections of the communique on climate and Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), reflecting our recent announcement to withdraw and immediately cease implementation of the Paris Agreement and associated financial commitments".

"The transition to a low-carbon economy is on the march and it has an irreversible dynamic, including in the United States", he said in comments that played on the name of Macron's Republique en Marche (Republic on the Move) party.

She also said she told Pruitt that the accord is "not open for renegotiation, although we are in the phase of negotiating the rules".

In addition, 274 USA mayors representing 58 million Americans have signed onto a statement prepared by the Mayors National Climate Action Agenda (MNCAA) network to uphold the Paris Agreement, as of the evening of June 7, 2017. Fracking will continue to reduce American emissions during Trump's presidency, just as it did during his predecessor's, and now that we've abandoned the predominant worldwide climate strategy, grassroots alternatives will benefit from more time, money, and attention from greens. It was a short time later that President Trump pulled the US out of the agreement.

The latest environment statement cemented Washington's new position as a lone wolf in a group of seven economies.

"So for us it is really clear that what we need to do is to go forward with implementing the accord and helping countries translate their national program into their development policies so we can get to 2018 and have a first assessment of where we stand", she said. However, the U.S. President announced the withdrawal four days later.

I think that we need worldwide co-operation in order to deal with climate change. To meet the carbon-dioxide emissions targets, the United States would have to significantly cut back its use of traditional energy resources, including oil and natural gas, hurting the economies of many Midwestern and Western states.

The final version of the communiqué still references this decline - by 0.03 percent in 2015 compared to 1994, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration - but only as an example of how the U.S. will "continue to demonstrate through action", without saying the U.S. was "leading".

The Paris accord is aimed at capping the increase in global temperatures at two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. "Since the president and the country aren't going to show leadership, then local governments have to do it - cities, counties, maybe even states".

"Let us make sure that Europe takes its part in this economic opportunity", he said.