The White House reaffirmed Monday that a climate change conference in Paris will move forward as planned, although French officials say the event will be scaled back significantly after Friday night’s terrorist attacks in the city.
President Obama and several foreign leaders attending the Group of 20 meeting Monday in Turkey said they intend to reach a deal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions when they convene Nov. 30-Dec. 11 in Paris.
The climate talks are a key priority for the president, with reaching a deal on global emissions reductions a top issue going into 2016. Many scientists blame greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels for rising global temperatures, resulting in drought, floods and famine.
The White House said the U.S. and the leaders of the G-20 countries “sent a powerful political signal for strong climate action” at the meeting Monday in Turkey, reaffirming that the Paris talks will go forward despite the terrorist attacks in the City of Lights that killed more than 120 people Friday.
Despite the countries’ resolve, French leaders said the climate conference will be pared back significantly, focusing solely on the talks required to meet an international deal on global emissions reductions. Other events surrounding the talks will be canceled. More than 40,000 delegates from 195 countries had been expected to attend.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls told RTL News Monday “a series of demonstrations planned will not take place and it will be reduced to the negotiations … a lot of concerts and festivities will be canceled.”
Nevertheless, Valls said none of the countries involved in the talks has asked France to postpone the conference. He said cancelling the talks would be a mistake. He said postponing the talks entirely would be “abdicating to the terrorists.”
The White House said G20 leaders “committed to a successful outcome at the Paris Climate Conference later this month and instructed their negotiators to engage constructively and flexibly to discuss key issues and arrive in Paris with a way forward.”
Nations at the G20 meeting said they were committed to the goal of keeping global temperatures from rising above 2 degrees Celsius, which is the underlying goal of the Paris climate conference. They also said more money for research was needed to make clean energy technology viable in fight against global warming.
“Leaders recognized that increased investments in clean energy technologies and related research and development will help tackle climate change,” the White House said in a fact sheet.
Obama on Monday also dispatched senior White House climate adviser Brian Deese to meet with the Cabinet of newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ahead of the climate talks.
Deese will “discuss opportunities for cooperation and collaboration between the United States and Canada, particularly on issues of energy and climate change in the weeks leading to the Paris Climate Conference and beyond,” the White House said.
