Representatives
of American cities, states and companies are preparing to submit a plan
to the United Nations pledging to meet the United States’ greenhouse
gas emissions targets under the Paris climate accord, despite President
Trump’s decision to withdraw from the agreement.
The
unnamed group — which, so far, includes 30 mayors, three governors,
more than 80 university presidents and more than 100 businesses — is
negotiating with the United Nations to have its submission accepted
alongside contributions to the Paris climate deal by other nations.
“We’re going to do everything America would have done if it had stayed committed,” Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor who is coordinating the effort, said in an interview.
Graphic
How Cities and States Reacted to Trump’s Decision to Exit the Paris Climate Deal
President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris
climate agreement drew immediate reaction from big-city mayors,
governors and Congress members.
By
redoubling their climate efforts, he said, cities, states and
corporations could achieve, or even surpass, the pledge of the
administration of former President Barack Obama to reduce America’s
planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions 26 percent by 2025, from their
levels in 2005.
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It
was unclear how, exactly, that submission to the United Nations would
take place. Christiana Figueres, a former top United Nations climate
official, said there was currently no formal mechanism for entities that
were not countries to be full parties to the Paris accord.
Ms.
Figueres, who described the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw
as a “vacuous political melodrama,” said the American government was
required to continue reporting its emissions to the United Nations
because a formal withdrawal would not take place for several years.
But Ms. Figueres, the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
until last year, said the Bloomberg group’s submission could be
included in future reports the United Nations compiled on the progress
made by the signatories of the Paris deal.
There are 195 countries committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions as part of the 2015 agreement.
Still, producing what Mr. Bloomberg described as a “parallel” pledge would indicate that leadership in the fight against climate change in the United States had shifted from the federal government to lower levels of government, academia and industry.
Mr.
Bloomberg, a United Nations envoy on climate, is a political
independent who has been among the critics of Mr. Trump’s climate and
energy policies.
Mayors
of cities including Los Angeles, Atlanta and Salt Lake City have signed
on — along with Pittsburgh, which Mr. Trump mentioned in his speech
announcing the withdrawal — as have Hewlett-Packard, Mars and dozens of other companies.
Eighty-two
presidents and chancellors of universities including Emory, Brandeis
and Wesleyan are also participating, the organizers said.
Mr.
Trump’s plan to pull out of the Paris agreement was motivating more
local and state governments, as well as businesses, to commit to the climate change
fight, said Robert C. Orr, one of the architects of the 2015 Paris
agreement as the United Nations secretary-general’s lead climate
adviser.
On
Thursday, Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New
York and Gov. Jerry Brown of California, all Democrats, said they were
beginning a separate alliance of states committed to upholding the Paris
accord.
“The
electric jolt of the last 48 hours is accelerating this process that
was already underway,” said Mr. Orr, who is now dean of the School of
Public Policy at the University of Maryland. “It’s not just the volume
of actors that is increasing, it’s that they are starting to coordinate
in a much more integral way.”
Graphic: How Americans Think About Climate Change, in Six Maps
The
United States is about halfway to its 2025 emissions reduction target,
Mr. Orr said. Of the remaining reductions, the federal government —
through regulations like gas mileage standards for vehicles — could
affect about half.
But
in a draft letter to António Guterres, the United Nations
secretary-general, Mr. Bloomberg expressed confidence that “non-national
actors” could achieve the 2025 goal alone.
“While
the executive branch of the U.S. government speaks on behalf of our
nation in matters of foreign affairs, it does not determine many aspects
of whether and how the United States takes action on climate change,”
he wrote.
“The
bulk of the decisions which drive U.S. climate action in the aggregate
are made by cities, states, businesses, and civil society,” he wrote.
“Collectively, these actors remain committed to the Paris accord.”
Trump Pulls Out of Climate Accord as ‘Reassertion of America’s Sovereignty’
President Trump railed against China,
India and other international polluters at an address in which he
announced the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris climate accord.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.
Photo by Doug Mills/The New York Times.
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Cities
and states can reduce emissions in many ways, including negotiating
contracts with local utilities to supply greater amounts of renewable
energy, building rapid transit programs and other infrastructure
projects like improved wastewater treatment. Similarly, corporations can
take measures like buying renewable energy for their offices and
factories, or making sure their supply chains are climate-friendly.
Governor
Inslee said that states held significant sway over emissions.
Washington, for example, has adopted a cap on carbon pollution, has
invested in growing clean energy jobs and subsidizes electric vehicle purchases and charging stations.
“Our states will move forward, even if the president wants to go backward,” he said in a telephone interview.
America’s
biggest corporations have been bracing for the United States to exit
from the Paris climate accord, a move executives and analysts say would
bring few tangible benefits to businesses — but plenty of backlash.
Multinational
companies will still need to follow ever-stricter emissions laws that
other countries are adopting, no matter the location of their
headquarters. Automakers like Ford Motor and General Motors would still
need to build cars that meet stringent fuel economy and emissions
standards in the European Union, Japan and even China, not to mention California.
American
companies also face the wrath of overseas consumers for abandoning what
has been a popular global agreement — customers who could buy more
Renaults instead of Chevrolets or Reeboks instead of Nikes.
“Pulling
out of Paris would be the worst thing for brand America since Abu
Ghraib,” said Nigel Purvis, a top environmental negotiator in the
Clinton and George W. Bush administrations and the chief executive of
Climate Advisers, a consulting firm.
“Mars
stands by the Paris Climate Agreement,” said Grant Reid, the chief
executive of Mars. The company, best known for its candies, remained
committed, he said, to achieving “the carbon reduction targets the
planet needs.”
Graphic: How 2016 Became Earth’s Hottest Year on Record
It
was unclear from Mr. Trump’s announcement what commitments the United
States would honor in the Paris accord, which include contributions to
the operating budget of the accord’s coordinating agency, the framework
convention.
But Bloomberg Philanthropies,
Mr. Bloomberg’s charitable organization, is offering to donate $14
million over the next two years to help fund the budget should it be
needed, a spokeswoman said. That figure represents the United States’
share, she said.
Jackie
Biskupski, the mayor of Salt Lake City and a Democrat, said her
administration had recently brokered an agreement with the local utility
to power the city with 100 percent renewable energy by 2032.
Global
warming is having a significant impact in Utah, she said, especially on
water availability and quality. “We feel very strongly that we have an
obligation to make sure we keep moving in the right direction on this
issue,” she said.
“We really have to make choices that reflect our long-term goals, that really address long-term issues of today,” she added.
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