"Our country noted the decision of the United States to leave the Paris Agreement with concern and disappointment. Undoubtedly, this decision will have a negative impact on the efforts made by other countries of the international community in order to counter climate change," Salgado said.
Salgado emphasized that Brazil had been seriously addressing the issue of climate change.
"Even though I am not an expert on ecology, I have to say that issues related to climate change are in the focus of attention of our government. Brazil is one of the main initiators of the negotiations, which resulted in the Paris Agreement," Salgado added.
On June 1, US President Donald Trump announced that his country would be pulling out of 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 his readiness to renegotiate the deal under terms that would be more fair to the United States.
The Paris climate accord, created within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and championed by former US President Barack Obama, has been signed by 195 parties and ratified by 148. The agreement aims at keeping the increase in average global temperature at below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Each party to the deal has agreed to cut their emissions, and is expected to produce its own plan for achieving these goals, determine the time line for the implementation of said goals, and then report on its progress.
