US @SecretaryPerry will recommend @POTUS renegotiate the Paris agreement; asks EU countries for fewer words, more action. #BNEFSummit pic.twitter.com/3XmDLApkwr
— BloombergNEF (@BloombergNEF) April 25, 2017
Between rolling back Obama-era environmental orders, slashing the EPA budget, going out of its way to court coal miners, and getting sued over the Keystone pipeline, the Trump administration’s record on the environment has so far left a lot to be desired. It’s a bit of a surprise then that Energy Secretary said Tuesday that the U.S. should remain in the Paris Agreement while renegotiating the climate change pact.
The 2015 agreement was signed by over 200 nations and was considered a major part of President Obama’s climate change efforts.
And the Paris Agreement was frequently cited by Candidate Trump as one he would remove the U.S. from if elected. Though the administration’s stance on the agreement is currently up in the air, senior advisors are planning to discuss it later this week.
Speaking at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) conference in New York, Perry told renewable energy industry executives, “I’m not going to tell the President of the United States let’s just walk away from the Paris Accord, but what I’m going to say is we probably need to renegotiate.” Per TIME:
Perry’s remarks reflect the thinking of a number of top officials inside the White House as well as certain leaders in the oil, gas and coal industries, who believe the U.S. can remain in the deal while reconsidering the terms of the nation’s commitments. Renegotiation of the entire deal would be next to impossible given that it entered into force last year after decades of talks. But the U.S. could unilaterally change its commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions without any concrete penalty.
Perry also went on to warn against a rush into adopting wind and solar energy on a large scale since, with regards to national security, they could make the grid unreliable. However, Time notes, “Many energy analysts disagree that expanded use of renewable energy will make the grid unreliable, citing new forms of energy storage and technology that help mitigate risk and over-use.”
(Via Time)