Former US President Barack Obama will make a keynote address on food security and climate change Tuesday, just as the Trump administration struggles with an internal rift over whether to pull out of the global Paris climate accord.
US President Donald Trump vowed during his campaign to “cancel” US participation in the Paris Agreement, which obliges countries to slash their greenhouse gas emissions to keep global temperatures from rising to catastrophic levels.
Trump aides have openly aired their differences on the issue and a final decision on the US stance is expected soon. A planned meeting on Tuesday of Trump’s advisers on whether to pull out of the agreement, however, was postponed, a White House official said, citing a scheduling conflict.
Trump has maintained he is committed to taking the US out of the accord, which would severely weaken the agreement as the United States is the world’s second-largest emitter of climate changing greenhouse gases.
The Paris Agreement was brokered by the Obama administration and was seen as a major breakthrough after the previous accord — the Kyoto protocol — failed to include the US and China, the world’s two biggest polluters. Every nation involved in the talks, except Syria and Nicaragua, signed onto the deal.
Obama’s speech at the Seeds and Chips summit in Milan, Italy, will be his first foreign address since leaving office. The event is focused on the impact of technology and innovation on climate change and food availability.
Climate change and nutrition are issues close to the Obamas’ hearts and were centerpiece policies of the eight-year Obama period.
Fresh in office in 2009, Obama initiated his “Feed the Future” campaign that by some accounts has helped 9 million farmers and more than 17 million children, many under 5 years of age, have a chance of improved nutrition in more than 19 countries worldwide.
At the same time, former first lady Michelle Obama championed the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010, providing much needed healthy meals for schoolkids, an early Trump target in scything back the Obamas’ legacy.
Trump’s take on climate change
Trump Chief Strategist Steve Bannon has pressed the President to uphold his campaign promises to withdraw from the plan and thereby signal a commitment to American energy producers, including coal miners.
Trump, who once claimed that climate change was a Chinese hoax, has since backed off those claims.
The debate between Trump’s aides has turned from whether climate change is real to discussions on how the administration plans to position itself at the global negotiating table on global warming.
Trump has resolved to announce his intentions by this month’s Group of 7 meeting in Sicily, meaning a decision to withdraw could isolate him at his first gathering of world leaders.
In March, Trump signed an executive order designed to prioritize American jobs over addressing climate change. It could roll back several Obama-era climate policies, including a review the Clean Power Plan initiative, which is designed to curb man-made carbon emissions.
What is the Paris Agreement?
The Paris agreement is a global deal that was drafted in 2015 to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. It entered into force on 4 November 2016.
So far, 145 countries have ratified or accepted it, including China, the world’s top polluter.
Each country must commit to a voluntary plan to reduce emissions, with the goal of keeping the global rise in temperatures to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
Obama called it “a turning point for the world” and made it the legacy of his administration’s climate policy along with the Clean Power Plan.