US President Donald Trump skipped the climate summit and discussions about the fires in the Amazon at the recent G7 meeting in Biarritz, France and then his aides lied about the reason he did not attend. The climate emergency, protecting biodiversity and the fires in the Amazon were high on the agenda of the 45th G7 summit, which took place from August 24 to 26.
Although Trump ignored key environmental issues he did find time to meet with the populist UK leader Boris Johnson on August 25. Trump’s aids claimed there was a scheduling conflict that prevented him from attending the climate summit. The pretext for missing the summit was a bilateral meeting with India and Germany, however, both German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi were present at the climate summit, while Trump was not.
Trump’s anti-science stance on environmental issues has isolated him in the world community. Macron and and other world leaders have given up on trying to convincing the American president to reverse his decision to withdraw the US from the Paris climate accord.
Before the summit started, Trump’s aids made it clear that the US commander and chief thinks the climate summit is a waste of time. They claim the economy is the priority issue for Trump, however, this contradicts economic assessments which indicate that the climate crisis is also an economic crisis. The Trump administration ignores the economics of climate change including the costs.
Trump’s actions make it clear that he has no interest in cutting greenhouse gas emissions, protecting biodiversity, or managing the fires in the Amazon. Nor does he think that issues like clearing plastic waste from our oceans is worthy of his time.
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