Global Greens World Environment Day Statement - President Trump turns US backwards on climate - Greens commit to swift action

Global Greens World Environment Day Statement:

President Trump turns US backwards on climate - Greens commit to swift action

President Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Climate Agreement is backward-looking, ignorant and regrettable but will not stop global momentum for climate action, according to the Global Greens.

The Global Greens say the loss of contributions from the US, the world’s richest country, to the $US1 billion Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the most shocking aspect of President Trump’s announcement. The GCF helps developing countries to keep their emissions low and adapt to unavoidable impacts of climate change.

Global Greens call on other developed countries to consider urgently how the funding shortfall can be made up so as to keep faith with the developing countries that will suffer most from climate change.

The Global Greens, European Greens and Green Party of England and Wales, just two months ago at their joint congress in Liverpool UK, re-stated their commitment to acting swiftly to meet the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

Global Greens climate action will include:

• using our power in local councils and sub-national parliaments to drive divestment from fossil fuels and commit to 100% renewable energy
• using our influence in national parliaments to get rid of fossil fuel subsidies and end fossil fuel financing through the multilateral development banks in which they hold shares
• using our global reach and connection with communities to drive the transformation of energy, transport and food systems to a net carbon zero future in a socially just way and to protect forests and other natural ecosystems across the world.

The Global Greens 2017 Congress agreed on specific resolutions relating to climate change and the environment:

• Transition away from coal and fossil fuels including a ban on new coal mines and coal mine expansions
• Phase out nuclear energy globally and urgently in north-east Asia
• Ecocide, ethnocide, extractivism and land grabbing, welcoming national initiatives to resist extractivism and land grabbing in countries including Venezuela, Mongolia, Niger, Senegal but recognising that they are insufficient; and specifically opposing Orinoco Mining Arch which amounts to ecocide in the heart of the Venezuelan Amazon
• For an International Recognition of The Crime of Ecocide, calling for recognition of ecocide as a crime and the creation of an International Environmental Court
• Healthy Oceans for Sustainable Development, responding to the need to improve global governance of the oceans and calling for an intergovernmental scientific panel to review the state of the world’s oceans and marine ecosystems
• Protection of Coral Reefs calling for Greens to campaign for coral reef protection
• Repudiation of Barrick Gold in Argentina, following repeated cyanide spills into the Potrerillos River