BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

Macron: No Surprise Trump Skipped G7 Workshop On Oceans, Climate And Biodiversity

Following
This article is more than 4 years old.

BIARRITZ, France—U.S. President Donald Trump did not show up for a workshop on environmental issues at the G7 Summit here today, but French President Emmanuel Macron said it came as no surprise.

"When it comes to the Paris Agreement, we know his position, it has always been clear, and it is not an objective of the French presidency to convince him otherwise," Macron said. "We did have that objective at the outset prior to his withdrawing from the agreement, but it was not our objective at the G7.'

Macron hopes to enlist the leaders of the G7 industrial countries and several other invited countries to sign the Metz Charter on Biodiversity, a non-binding agreement to recognize the value of biodiversity, to protect biodiversity and to work to reverse its collapse.

At a press conference following the workshop, Macron said he still expects the charter to be signed by all the leaders, but the signing will take place at the UN Climate Conference in New York next month.

"All of the countries that we have been working with, including those that are not members of the G7, all of the countries including Chile, Australia, India, South Africa, will be signing the Biodiversity Charter," Macron said.

"Now this is a first of its kind. It shows that the international community is committed to biodiversity. So what we are going to focus on now is putting together the dynamic that we need for biodiversity much as we have done for climate change."

The Metz Charter was endorsed in May by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler at a convention of environment ministers leading up to this summit.

Macron suggested Trump's absence should not be interpreted as a rejection of the workshop.

"President Trump had several bilateral meetings including with Chancellor Merkel and with Prime Minister Modi this morning and that meant that he wasn’t in the room, but his team was there."

The other six G7 leaders, including both Merkel and Modi, were present.

Carbon Neutrality Coalition

Other countries are increasing their climate commitments to compensate for the U.S. withdrawal from Paris, Macron said, mentioning specifically Russia and India.

"Putin even confirmed this to me one week back," Macron said. "India also has joined the carbon coalition that was something we didn’t know even one week ago."

The Carbon Neutrality Coalition is a french-led group of countries that have committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

Before the G7 Summit, the list of countries was approaching 20:

To minimize global warming, we must all aim to be carbon neutral by 2050. This is the goal of the Carbon Neutrality Coalition, which was launched at the first One Planet Summit in Paris in December 2017. Currently, 19 countries and 32 cities have committed to producing long-term strate- gies that are consistent with the goals set by the Paris Agreement. At the Biarritz Summit, France will build on its past and current efforts to support carbon neutrality by 2050 at the European level, by encouraging more countries to adopt this vital goal.

Palais de l’Élysée

Amazon Fires

Macron and Chilean President Sebastián Piñera announced $20 million and military aid to fight fires raging in the Amazon forest. They also announced a new international initiative including the nine Amazonian countries to protect the Amazon. The initiative will unfold, they said, at the UN Climate Conference next month and at the COP 25 Climate Conference in Chile in December.

Read More:

MORE FROM FORBESThe G7 Is Meeting On A Vanishing Coastline, Local Scientists Warn World Leaders
Follow me on TwitterCheck out my website