President Trump will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday ahead of a major United Nations climate meeting in Bonn early next week.
Although trade and Iran are expected to top the agenda when Merkel meets with Trump, climate issues could squeeze into the discussions, as they did when French President Emmanuel Macron visited the White House earlier this week.
Merkel will likely present the same realist view that Macron expressed during his visit with Trump. Macron told Congress on Wednesday that he was hopeful the U.S. would rejoin the Paris climate agreement. “I am sure, one day, the United States will come back and join the Paris Agreement,” Macron said. “Let us face it: There is no Planet B.”
But during a joint press conference with Trump, Macron said, “We know where we stand.”
Although Trump has decided to pull the U.S. government out of the deal, “I think I can say that our businesses, our researchers can continue to work on, can create solutions in the field,” Macron said.
Meanwhile, the countries that support the Paris Agreement will be forced to work with U.S. businesses, state, and local leaders to move ahead on the accord.
But that’s not optimal for meeting the emission reduction goals of the Paris climate agreement, according to the United Nations’ Emissions Gap report issued late last year. The U.N. wants the U.S. back in, despite the optimism countries have about moving ahead with the Paris Agreement without the U.S.
The U.N.’s “Emissions Gap” report showed that the countries that signed onto the deal are not doing enough to limit greenhouse gas emissions. “Should the United States follow through with its stated intention to leave the Paris Agreement in 2020, the picture could become even bleaker,” the report read.
Trump didn’t say anything about energy or “climate change” in his public remarks during Macron’s visit. On Thursday, however, Energy Secretary Rick Perry penned two agreements with France to work on advanced nuclear power plant designs. There is a chance that the administration could strike up a similar technology agreement with Germany, where the European policy to deal directly with climate change is dealt with through a focus on technology, not regulations.
With the U.N. climate meeting hanging over Friday’s talks with Trump, it is likely Merkel will make a pitch for Trump rejoining the accord, although she does not have anywhere near the clout that Macron has with the president.
“On the heels of President Macron’s visit, Merkel will also want to reiterate the importance of maintaining the Iran nuclear deal, and sticking to climate agreements,” according to the Euronews editorial board’s rundown of what to expect during the visit. The new agency tracks developments from a pan-European perspective.
The climate change conference will be held in Bonn April 30 through May 10, which the U.N. will live webcast, with a focus on using social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr more effectively.
Environmental groups are hoping to get renewed commitments from countries in Bonn for greater temperature reduction goals, or risk global catastrophe.
“It will take an unprecedented effort by governments, non-Party actors and people to keep global temperature rise to below 1.5°C,” said Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, the World Wildlife Fund’s climate leader. “That’s why 2018 has to be the year we step up our climate action.”
He said the pace and scale on the actions taken so far is not sufficient to stop the worst effects of global warming. “Now we need ‘business unusual’ tactics to drastically scale up our efforts to reduce emissions,” he said, according to the news site Eco Watch.
California Energy Commission chief of staff Kevin Barker is already in Bonn holding preliminary discussions on Thursday on the Golden State’s challenges and policies on implementing energy efficiency, considered the low-hanging fruit in lowering emissions, according to the agency.
“Strengthening relationships with Germany, this conference helps state & regional governments develop innovative Clean Energy policies,” the agency tweeted. The commission is the state’s primary energy planning and policy development engine.
