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US willing to re-enter Paris deal if terms are more favourable

MONTREAL — The White House pushed back over the weekend at a European suggestion that it was softening its stance on the Paris climate accord, insisting Washington will withdraw from the agreement unless it can re-enter on more favourable terms.

From left: China’s representative on climate change Xie Zhenhua, Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna and EU Commissioner for Climate Change and Energy Miguel Arias Canete after a meeting on Saturday in Montreal. Ms McKenna said they are pleased the US continues to engage despite its stance. Photo: AFP

From left: China’s representative on climate change Xie Zhenhua, Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna and EU Commissioner for Climate Change and Energy Miguel Arias Canete after a meeting on Saturday in Montreal. Ms McKenna said they are pleased the US continues to engage despite its stance. Photo: AFP

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MONTREAL — The White House pushed back over the weekend at a European suggestion that it was softening its stance on the Paris climate accord, insisting Washington will withdraw from the agreement unless it can re-enter on more favourable terms.

The remark came as environment ministers from some 30 countries gathered in Montreal seeking headway on the Paris climate accord, which United States President Donald Trump had pulled out of in June, a decision that drew anger and condemnation from world leaders.

At the summit, which was attended by a US observer, the US “stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris accord, but they (will) try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement”, said the European Union’s (EU) top climate official Miguel Arias Canete.

Mr Canete said there would be a meeting on the sidelines of next week’s UN General Assembly with American representatives “to assess what is the real US position”, noting “it’s a message which is quite different to the one we heard from President Trump in the past”.

However, the White House insisted the US would withdraw from the accord. “There has been no change in the United States’ position on the Paris agreement,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in an email. “As the president has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favourable to our country.”

Ministers from Canada, the EU and other nations told reporters that they expect continued US participation in Paris Agreement talks.

The withdrawal process will take until November 2020 to complete.

“While we understand that the US’ position on the Paris Agreement has not changed, we are pleased that they continue to engage,” said Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna.

Nearly 200 countries agreed in Paris in December 2015 to curb carbon emissions with the aim of limiting the rise in average global temperatures to 1.5°C by 2050, compared with pre-industrial levels.

Time is ticking, Mr Canete told AFP, as ministers work to narrow their differences and better understand how to implement the ambitious accord — with less than two months to go until the next UN Conference on Climate Change (COP23), in Bonn, Germany, in November. “We need a rulebook to be able to monitor and verify and compare emissions of all the parties and see how far we are towards the targets,” he said, with a goal of having those rules in place in time for the COP24 meeting in Katowice, Poland late next year.

China’s special representative to the talks Xie Zhenhua said Beijing considers the Montreal Protocol to be a “very effective and efficient” example of multilateral action on the environment — largely because it rested on a broad consensus.

“We should take action now,” said Mr Xie, “to ensure that we can realise the goals that we have set.

“The key issue is how we should combine climate actions with economic growth, the protection of people and job creation. If we can combine all these matters, we could make the Paris Agreement a great success.” AGENCIES

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