ATOWICE, Poland (AP) — The executive director of Greenpeace International says the U.S. delegation to the U.N. climate talks is putting itself in the way as the rest of the world is taking efforts to forge an agreement on fighting global warming.
Jennifer Morgan, speaking on the last scheduled day of the U.N. climate talks, said Friday that U.S. envoys were “certainly protecting representing the interests of The United States.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has questioned the scientific views on the causes of climate change and has declared that the U.S. is pulling out of the 2015 Paris agreement that called on all countries to keep global warming in check.
She said the U.S. delegation was questioning the science on climate change in the latest text and was “completely out of step” with other participants at the talks. Morgan says “they shouldn’t put themselves in the way of the rest of the world.”
A group of small islands and countries particularly vulnerable to global warming are threatening to block agreement at U.N. climate talks unless their demands are met.
Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed told reporters Friday that the current draft agreement being discussed in Poland doesn’t reflect the reality faced by countries on the front line of climate change.
Nasheed said “we are deeply unhappy with the way the talks are going,” citing the lack of clear commitment to pursue the goal of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit).
He said the Alliance of Small Island States he represents would “therefore (be) rebelling against extinction and if necessary we will rebel against the negotiations.”
Nasheed added that “we will not walk out, but we will veto.”
