- Title: Trump's climate plan "catastrophic" - France's Royal
- Date: 11th November 2016
- Summary: MARRAKESH, MOROCCO (NOVEMBER 11, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MEDIA GATHERING AROUND FRENCH ENVIRONMENT MINISTER, SEGOLENE ROYAL, AT CLIMATE CHANGE MEETING ROYAL'S NAME TAG (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH ENVIRONMENT MINISTER, SEGOLENE ROYAL, SAYING: "I think if such decisions are taken it would be absolutely catastrophic, so I dare to believe that such things are campaign promises to please a certain electorate which has not understood that global warming is a reality, or to answer the oil and fossil energy lobbies." ROYAL DURING INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH ENVIRONMENT MINISTER, SEGOLENE ROYAL, SAYING: "I think that when he (Trump) actually takes office he will see that withdrawing from multilateral negotiations and climate issues would weaken the United States." ROYAL DURING INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH ENVIRONMENT MINISTER, SEGOLENE ROYAL, SAYING: "China can take the place of the United States if the United States withdraws, this is what will happen." ROYAL LEAVING
- Embargoed: 26th November 2016 22:23
- Keywords: climage chage COP22 Marrakesh Morocco France Royal Trump U.S.
- Location: MARRAKESH, MOROCCO
- City: MARRAKESH, MOROCCO
- Country: Morocco
- Topics: Environment,Climate Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0015804EVB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Donald Trump's plan to drop out of world cooperation on slowing climate change would be "absolutely catastrophic" and weaken the United States, France's environment minister said on Friday (November 11).
But Segolene Royal, defending a 2015 Paris climate agreement she helped construct, told Reuters she believed the U.S. president-elect might switch track once he takes office.
Trump has called global warming a hoax, wants to cancel the Paris Agreement and halt all U.S. funding of U.N. global warming programmes.
"If such decisions are taken it would be absolutely catastrophic," said Royal, a Socialist.
"I dare to believe that such things are campaign promises to please a certain electorate which has not understood that global warming is a reality," she said at a Nov. 7-18 meeting of 200 nations in Marrakesh, Morocco, on actions to limit warming.
Trump says he wants to bolster U.S. jobs and avoid dependence on OPEC oil by exploiting the "$50 trillion in untapped shale, oil, and natural gas reserves, plus hundreds of years in clean coal reserves" in the United States.
By contrast, the Paris Agreement seeks to limit greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from burning fossil fuels.
In Marrakesh, many nations have reaffirmed backing for the Paris Agreement's goals of shifting to wind, solar and other cleaner energies.
"I think that when he (Trump) actually takes office he will see that withdrawing from multilateral negotiations and climate issues would weaken the United States," Royal said.
She said the United States itself was suffering from side-effects of climate change, pointing to storm surges in Miami and wildfires in California.
"China can take the place of the United States if the United States withdraws," from a leading role on climate change, she said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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