BONN, Nov 16: French president Emmanuel Macron sent a pulse of excitement racing through the Bonn climate summit with a speech seizing the mantle of climate leadership from the US.
In an address to a conference on Wednesday, Macron promised to replace the $ 2 million annual donations withdrawn by the US from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The president also called for a border tax to protect EU industry against parties that do not share its climate goals, and promised efforts to haul EU carbon prices up to €30 per ton.
UK promises to maintain EU funding for farming, science
On the IPCC, he said: “We need scientific information which is constantly nourished to ensure clear decision making. The IPCC is one of the major components of this work.”
“However, it is threatened today by the decision of the US not to guarantee funding for it. Therefore, I propose that the EU replaces the USA, and France will meet that challenge.”
While France hoped that other EU countries would also contribute, “I can guarantee that starting in 2018, the IPCC will have all the money it needs and will continue to support our decision-making. It will not miss a single euro,” Macron said.
Macron was among world leaders speaking at a climate meeting in Germany that has left Washington isolated.
Macron said European governments and the private sector must ensure funding for the main U.N. scientific body, known as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He also called on nations to accelerate their energy transition and said France would close all its coal plants before 2022.
Rich nations have imposed their universe on the world, Macron said of greenhouse emissions — it is forbidden to impose the tragedy it may create, he added.
Member of National Planning Commission Dr Prabhu Budhathoki, who is participating in the conference, termed the speech from Macron as ‘bold’. Writing on facebook page, Budhathoki mentioned the speech as ‘bold’ that committed to fulfilling vacuum on financial constraint and the US absence in global climate issue. Environment Minister Mithila Chaudhary is representing Nepal in the conference.
Speaking on the occasion, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that German is committed to reducing carbon emission by 40% by 2020.
