While acknowledging that Trump's ending of USA financing for developing countries affected by climate change was an important setback, he said France and other countries were looking at ways of compensating through multilateral banks.
Canada's official summary of the phone call, issued on the day it occurred, states that the two leaders "agreed to continue working closely with like-minded partners to implement the historic Paris Agreement".
"I believe engaging in global discussion is of the utmost importance to the United States when it comes to environmental issues", Pruitt said in the statement.
Since President Trump announced his intent to ditch the Paris Climate Agreement on June 1, Iowa City Mayor Jim Throgmorton and the Johnson County Board of Supervisors have agreed to uphold the principles of the agreement.
Italy's Minister of the Environment Gian Luca Galletti (C) attends a summit of Environment ministers from the G7 group of industrialised nations in Bologna, Italy, June11, 2017.
Trump said earlier this month he intends to withdraw the US from the agreement unless it can be renegotiated. One was written by the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy and the other by the Climate Mayors, which was signed by 292 US mayors.
Environmental groups were less forgiving of the U.S. stance. Two years ago, the climate change holdouts were Japan, which had to turn to coal-fired power after shutting down its nuclear power plants because of the 2011 quake, and Canada, which has since had a change of government.
The G7 environment ministers issued a final reportafter their two-day meeting in Bologna, the first since the United States announced it was withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement. Trump says the deal will cost U.S.jobs and harm the economy. "Today's action of reaching consensus makes clear that the Paris agreement is not the only mechanism by which environmental stewardship can be demonstrated". His aides stayed for the rest of the meeting.
"Everything else for us is excluded", he said.
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A close Trump associate said this week the president was considering firing Mueller , although the White House later denied it. The lobbyist said he advised Trump, who was the Republican candidate at that time, on his first major foreign policy speech.
It was an uphill slog.
The U.S. did, however, promise to continue efforts to reduce pollution and promote energy efficiency, and Mr. Pruitt rejected the idea that the Paris pact is the only way forward.
"We said 'No way you are adding a footnote that you are leading, because that is not true, '" the delegate said.
Separately, U.S. states, state attorneys general, cities, businesses, and universities have banded together into a coalition called We Are Still In.
Scientists have known since the 19th century that burning coal, oil and gas spews carbon dioxide into the air, which then acts like a blanket to trap heat on Earth.
"The world, through the Paris Accord, has made the commitment to make the turn to a decarbonised future. And we're going to persuade other states and do everything we can to get the whole United States of America fully supporting all the efforts needed to decarbonise America's economy - and, in fact, the world's economy". The coalition aims to uphold US commitments under the Paris Agreement, and it also says it wants to meet or exceed the Clean Power Plan, an Obama-era EPA rule on power plant emissions.
JERUSALEM • An Israeli court has awarded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife US$32,500 (S$45,000) in a libel case over a journalist's claim that Mrs Netanyahu kicked her husband out of the vehicle during a row. McKenna says Canada has no interest in renegotiating the Paris climate change agreement in order to bring the United States back on board.
Eric Wolff contributed reporting from Washington.
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