At a New York Times event, opposing views on climate change collide

NEW YORK – US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Sept 24 that other countries should “absolutely” follow the lead of the United States and withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Speaking at The New York Times’ Climate Forward live journalism event, Mr Wright said that supporters of the landmark pact, under which almost all nations have agreed to combat climate change, have “become a club of people that have lost sight of the interests of their own people.”

As he spoke, about nine blocks east, across midtown Manhattan, world leaders from China and more than 100 other countries pledged to strengthen their commitments to slow global warming.

The split-screen view underscored the extent to which the US under President Donald Trump has become isolated from the rest of the world on climate change, perhaps more than on any other issue.

Mr Trump has said the US will withdraw from the Paris accord, joining Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only four countries to not recognise it.

In recent months, he has also issued numerous policies that could thwart renewable energy projects, and his administration has ordered a halt to the construction of offshore wind farms.

Mr Wright, a former hydraulic fracturing executive, said on Sept 24 during an onstage interview at the Climate Forward event that other countries should use more fossil fuels like oil and gas, calling them more affordable and reliable than renewables.

The burning of fossil fuels is the main driver of global warming through the release of greenhouse gases.

He also defended the Trump administration’s crackdown on renewable energy, claiming that there is a “fever pitch” of opposition around the country to the technologies.

Polling has found strong support for wind and solar power, which have ranked among the fastest-growing sources of electricity in the country in recent years.

At the same time, though, a growing number of communities have sought to restrict renewable energy development because of concerns about the potential for taking up agricultural land or lowering property values.

At the United Nations on Sept 24, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that his country would, for the first time,

commit to reducing its massive greenhouse gas emissions

.

Speaking via video link, he said that Beijing would cut emissions by at least 7 to 10 per cent by 2035.

And the European Union’s climate commissioner, Wopke Hoekstra, said the world was moving ahead on climate action regardless of the US’ position.

“We’re doing the exact opposite of what the US is doing, which, by the way, I find concerning and problematic,” he said.

By contrast, Mr Trump told the UN General Assembly on Sept 23 that climate change is the “

greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world

” and called renewable energy “a joke.”

Mr Trump’s remarks were roundly criticised on Sept 24 by leaders including California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat.

“What an abomination,” Mr Newsom said at the Times’ Climate Forward event, during an onstage interview just before Mr Wright’s. “What an embarrassment. What a fraud.”

Mr Newsom also assailed the Energy Department’s announcement on Sept 24 that it would pull back US$13 billion (S$16.8 billion) in unspent funding for clean energy projects that had been approved during the Biden administration.

He called the move a “betrayal” by the US that would only help China. Mr Xi is “going to give Trump a big bear hug,” Mr Newsom said.

Mr Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser during the Biden administration, also said during the event that China would be the main beneficiary of Mr Trump’s decision to cut federal incentives for wind, solar, electric vehicles, batteries and other green technologies.

“These core clean energy technologies, including batteries, they matter for everything we do, including the artificial intelligence revolution,” he said.

Earlier in the day-long event, Ms Hilda Heine, the president of the Marshall Islands, invited Mr Trump to come to her nation of low-lying islands to see the consequences of rising global temperatures and rising sea levels.

The country’s population has dropped to 37,000 from 50,000 a decade ago as islanders have left rather than rebuild homes damaged by flooding.

In another interview, Mr Andrew Forrest, the executive chair of mining company Fortescue in Australia, also invited Mr Trump to see the damage Australia is experiencing as the planet heats up.

“As a fellow businessman, I happen to own several million acres of land in Australia,” he said. “Come and see what’s happening to my land.” NYTIMES