If a new president is elected in 2020, he or she could keep the United States in the Paris Climate Agreement, former Vice President Al Gore on Saturday suggested.
"A new president could simply give 30 days notice, and the United States is back in the agreement,” Gore, the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee, said during an appearance at the United Nations Climate Change Conference [COP23] in Bonn, Germany, reports The Hill.
In June, President Donald Trump said he would pull the United States out of the international accord, which sets the world's standards for greenhouse gas emissions.
However, Trigg Talley, the U.S. deputy special envoy for climate change, told delegates at the opening of the German summit on Monday that the United States will "continue to participate in international climate change negotiations and meetings, including ongoing negotiations related to guidance for implementing the Paris agreement."
According to the Paris agreement, countries that signed it can't pull out until Nov. 4, 2019, which, Gore pointed out, in his opening remarks at a climate finance panel at the U.S. Climate Action Center, will be the first day after the next presidential election, so "that's good news."
He then bowed his head and folded his hands as if he was in prayer, and joked to the audience that his gesture "was not a partisan comment," and that he shouldn't be quoted about it.
Further, Gore said that even though Trump said he would pull out of the accord, the United States remains part of it, and will "meet and exceed our commitments."
“The United States of America is very seriously moving forward,” he said. “This train, if you'll forgive the metaphor, left the station in Paris.”
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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