"On climate and energy we will reaffirm our strong commitment to the Paris agreement, clean energy transition and support for the poor and vulnerable in the fight against climate change. And we will maintain cohesion within the G19 despite the US decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement," Timmermans said in the European Parliament presenting the Commission's position on climate at the upcoming G20 summit in Hamburg.
The annual G20 summit is set to take place in the German city of Hamburg on July 7-8, and the fight against climate change will be on the agenda of the summit among other pressing international issues.
On June 1, US President Donald Trump announced Washington's withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, arguing that the agreement had the potential to hurt the US economy and affect national job growth while unfairly benefiting other nations. However, the president expressed readiness to renegotiate the deal under terms that would be more fair to the United States.
The Paris climate agreement was adopted within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in December 2015 and came into force in November 2016. The accord has been signed by more than 190 countries and ratified by nearly 150. As stipulated in the international accord, all parties should maintain the increase in average global temperature at below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
