The Obama administration sought to assure foreign diplomats that the United States will continue to be a part of the fight against climate change after the next president takes office, even if that person is a Republican.
Jonathan Pershing, the administration’s top climate diplomat, admitted “there is some concern” internationally about what will happen to U.S. climate efforts if Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz or Ohio Gov. John Kasich take the White House in November.
But Pershing said administration officials pointed to bipartisan congressional resolutions, U.S. businesses’ investments in green technology and the potential for a huge worldwide market in fighting climate change as reasons that the U.S. will stay on track regardless of who wins in November.
“It was more that they wanted to be reassured,” Pershing said, “and they were not just reassured, they were quite confident by the end of the discussion.”
The Obama administration’s plans for abiding by the Paris Agreement have been under attack in Congress, even months before the deal was reached in December.
The Clean Power Plan, President Obama’s signature environmental regulation on new and exiting coal power plants, has been halted by the Supreme Court while it undergoes a legal challenge from 30 states. Other regulations, such as the Renewable Fuel Standard and new ozone limits, are also being challenged in court or in Congress.
Republican senators sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry last week saying U.S. participation in the Paris Agreement could break U.S. law if “the state of Palestine” is allowed to join the agreement.
A law passed in 1994 makes it illegal to give taxpayer dollars to any country not recognized as a state by the U.S. government. A Palestinian state is not recognized by the United States, but could end up receiving U.S. dollars through the Green Climate Fund that is in the Paris Agreement. Pershing said he didn’t anticipate that to be a problem, but the State Department is researching the issue.
“We do not see that there is going to be a constraint,” he said. “We’re moving forward, we’re urging others to move forward with this agreement.”
On the campaign trail, the Republican candidates are criticizing the use of regulation to fight climate change, even if they believe it is real and manmade.
Trump and Cruz are both climate change skeptics, and Kasich has said he believes climate change is real and man plays a role in causing it, but he doesn’t believe regulation should be used to stop it.
Cruz has headed hearings in the Senate pushing the message that climate change is not occurring, and Trump repeatedly says the global warming he’s worried about comes from nuclear bombs.
