New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) says he will sign an “executive order maintaining New York City’s commitment to the Paris Agreement” on climate change after reports Wednesday indicated that President Donald Trump plans to withdraw from it.
De Blasio took to Twitter to criticize the president’s plans.
If Trump withdraws from the historic pact, the U.S. would be one of just three nations not part of the global initiative to reduce planet-warming emissions.
The president has not confirmed that he plans to take the U.S. out of the agreement, but he tweeted Wednesday morning that he’d make a decision on the issue “over the next few days.”
De Blasio’s support for the pact aligns with his other efforts to battle climate change, including a goal to reduce citywide greenhouse gas emissions and a $20 billion resiliency plan ― all factors voters will get to consider when elections roll around this November.
Other state lawmakers have also expressed their support for the pact should Trump withdraw the U.S. from it.
Thirty-seven mayors representing cities around the country ― including Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Atlanta ― signed an open letter to the president in November urging him to join them in battling climate change. But they also indicated they’d be “prepared to forge ahead even in the absence of federal support.”
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti reinforced his stance with a tweet earlier this month.
While the Paris climate accord is an international treaty, smaller initiatives by individual states can still make a difference.
The national government doesn’t mandate whether a city’s bus fleet runs on natural gas or is electric, Seth Schultz, director of science and innovation for C40, a global climate and cities consortium, told Wired. “They cannot mandate sidewalk setback or a bicycle sharing system. But there are ways cities can control huge swaths of emissions from the transport sector.”
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