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A Trump climate betrayal?! US signs international declaration on climate change despite Trump’s past statements

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/us-signs-international-declaration-climate-change-despite-trumps-004206189–abc-news-topstories.html

CONOR FINNEGAN

US signs international declaration on climate change despite Trump’s past statements

President Trump has talked tough in the past about his skeptical views on climate change, his administration appears to be taking a more cautious approach to the issue on the world stage in the early days of his presidency.

Rex Tillerson signed a document today calling climate change a “serious threat” to the Arctic and noting the need for action to reduce its potentially harmful effects.

The document, known as the Fairbanks Declaration, concluded Tillerson’s chairing of a meeting of the Arctic Council, a board made up of indigenous groups and the eight countries bordering the Arctic, in Fairbanks, Alaska.

While the council only has the power to issue advisories, the language in the statement signed by Tillerson comes in stark contrast to statements and promises made by President Trump about climate change.

Trump has repeatedly called into question the science behind climate change, even calling it a “very expensive hoax.” During his 2016 campaign, Trump promised to pull out of the Paris accord and his administration has ordered cuts to funding for climate science and has slashed environmental regulations.

While Tillerson endorsed the Arctic Council document, he cautioned that the U.S. would not be rushed into formulating its policy.

“We’re not going to rush to make a decision. We’re going to work to make the right decision for the United States,” he said.

The Trump administration has not come out with a decision on whether the U.S. will pull out of the Paris Climate accord signed under President Obama. That non-binding international agreement went into effect last year and calls for countries to set goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Fairbanks proclamation says that “the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of the global average, resulting in widespread social, environmental, and economic impacts,” and notes “the pressing and increasing need for mitigation and adaptation actions and to strengthen resilience.”

Paris Agreement on climate change and its implementation, and reiterating the need for global action to reduce both long-lived greenhouse gases and short-lived climate pollutants.” Later in the statement, the parties commit a whole section to addressing the impacts of climate change, laying out eleven steps forward.

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