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Still wary of 'Trump Effect', UN climate talks open in Bonn

World Materials 6 November 2017 11:19 (UTC +04:00)
Bonn (AFP) - Confronted with a cascade of grim reports on the gathering pace of global warming, climate negotiators meet in Bonn Monday wondering to what extent US President Donald Trump will make their jobs more difficult
Still wary of 'Trump Effect', UN climate talks open in Bonn

Bonn (AFP) - Confronted with a cascade of grim reports on the gathering pace of global warming, climate negotiators meet in Bonn Monday wondering to what extent US President Donald Trump will make their jobs more difficult, AFP reports.

Five months after the world's most famous climate sceptic said he would yank the United States out of the 196-nation Paris Agreement, the diplomats and leaders tasked with implementing it remained both defiant and concerned.

Leaders from a score of nations are expected to take part in the 12-day talks running through November 17, including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Inked in 2015, the Paris pact calls for capping global warming at "well under" two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and 1.5 C if possible.

So far, Earth's average temperature has gone up 1 C compared to pre-industrial levels -- enough to wreak havoc in many parts of the world.

Voluntary national pledges to reduce carbon pollution would still see the world heat up by a blistering 3 C, leaving a critical "emissions gap," and very little time to fill it.

That daunting task has been made all the more difficult by the US pullout, diplomats and experts said.

The problem extends beyond the likely shortfall in the reduction of US emissions, despite Trump's vow to protect carbon-intensive, coal-fired power plants from closure.

State-level governments led by California, along with major US-based companies, will likely pick up much of the slack.

Nor is what some call the "Trump Gap" in climate financing -- including $2.5 billion promised by Barack Obama but disavowed by his successor -- a deal breaker, experts said.

- Low profile -

The concern is more whether other leaders who were already reluctant to foreswear fossil fuels as the main engine of economic growth for their countries will lose resolve.

"The Paris Agreement boosted climate action, but momentum is clearly faltering," said Costa Rica's environment minister Edgar Gutierrez-Espeleta, recalling a smattering of applause when Trump told the UN General Assembly in September that the climate pact was "not fair" for the United States.

Washington has kept a low profile going into the Bonn talks.

"The United States will participate in the 23rd meeting of the Conference of the Parties," a State Department official told AFP by email.

At the same time, "the Administration’s position on the Paris Agreement remains unchanged," the official added.

"The United States intends to withdraw ... as soon as it is eligible to do so, unless the President can identify terms that are more favourable to American businesses, workers, and taxpayers."

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