Commonwealth Officials React to Paris Accord Withdrawal

On Thursday, President Trump announced that he will go forward with withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Accord. This was a major promise the President had made while campaigning for the 2016 presidential election, although many critics, scientists and politicians did not support this decision. Trump stated that he felt the accord put the country at a disadvantage.

“In order to fulfill my solemn duty to protect America and its citizens, the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate accord but begin negotiations to re-enter either the Paris accord or an entirely new transaction on terms that are fair to the United States,” the president said. “We are getting out. But we will start to negotiate, and we will see if we can make a deal that’s fair. And if we can, that’s great.”

In a speech on June 1, President Trump also stated that continuing to participate in the Paris Climate Accord would result in "lost jobs, lower wages, shuttered factories and vastly diminished economic production."

Commonwealth officials have voiced their disapproval of the president’s withdrawal and reinforced their commitment to existing plans to make the state greener and more environmentally responsible.

According to Boston Magazine, after the announcement was made that the president planned to leave the Paris Climate Accord, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh called the move “irresponsible.”

“I will continue to work with U.S. mayors and cities around the world to uphold the tenets of the Paris climate agreement and protect Boston from the very real impacts of climate change,” Mayor Walsh said.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker also posted a statement on Twitter in which he responded to the withdrawal: “The Commonwealth is committed to working with our partners around the nation and world to reduce carbon emissions.” He added, “Despite today’s announcement, Massachusetts is aggressively working to exceed the goals of the Paris Agreement on the state level, while growing our economy through clean energy innovation and environmental stewardship.”

Shortly after President Trump’s withdrawal announcement, Mayor Walsh also made an announcement. The plans for an international climate summit in the city of Boston this summer had been officially scrapped due to lack of federal support. According to the Washington Post, Walsh said that “it doesn’t seem like there’s any interest at all in moving forward.”

Environmental advocates and scientists believed the summit would have provided a stage for Boston to showcase efforts to “curb carbon emissions,” defend its coastal areas from rising seas and give Boston the opportunity to learn from other cities. It would have also brought thousands of urban and business leaders to Boston from U.S. and Chinese cities.

But even with this “scrapping,” the Washington Post reported that Walsh claimed Boston will move forward with its own initiatives to do its part to combat climate change. He added that the city might try to stage a conference without state department sponsorship because of the lack of interest. The Boston Herald also reported that Walsh has reached out to former Secretary of State John F. Kerry to see if he is interested in participating.

“[Withdrawing] will damage our reputation as an international leader, it will undermine our country’s commitment to meeting the challenges of climate change and it will also put at risk our future generations,” Walsh told Boston Magazine. The Mayor still plans to go forward with reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 and hopes other cities will honor their “green commitments” too.

In September 2016, Gov. Baker signed an executive order requiring state officials to develop a long-term adaption and mitigation plan. According to the Boston Globe, the executive order directed his administration to confront climate change across various cabinet offices “by developing and implementing a statewide, comprehensive adaptation plan.”

At the press conference following that executive order, Baker noted the extremely large winter storms that occurred shortly after he took office in 2015 and the ongoing drought, damaged reservoirs and crops across Massachusetts. In the following December, officials in Boston released a report showing how the trend of warmer temperatures and rising sea levels was projected to affect the city.

According to NECN, the most prominent elected officials in Massachusetts, regardless of party, urged President Donald Trump to reconsider his decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accord.

“It is downright un-American for a President to abdicate United States leadership to the great challenges facing our planet,” Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey said in a statement. Markey also claimed that the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord would be an “economic, security and moral failure” for the president.

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