When US President Donald Trump announced that his administration was pulling out of the Paris climate accord, he must have meant the entire country. However, it has now transpired that 40 million out of the total US population of around 321 million — or roughly one in every eight US citizens — may remain party to the deal!
That has been made possible by the Climate Mayors: 83 mayors from cities across the US who represent 41 million people and have resolved to remain within the purview of the Paris Agreement, and "will adopt, honour, and uphold the commitments to the goals enshrined" in the accord.
The Climate Mayors have also said in a statement: "We will intensify efforts to meet each of our cities' current climate goals, push for new action to meet the 1.5 degrees Celsius target, and work together to create a 21st century clean energy economy."
The statement has been signed by Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, Martin J Walsh of Boston, Bill de Blasio of New York City, Sylvester Turner of the City of Houston, Madeline Rogero of Knoxville, Rahm Emanuel of the City of Chicago, Ed Murray of the City of Seattle, Jim Kenney of the City of Philadelphia, Kasim Reed of the City of Atlanta, Lioneld Jordan of the City of Fayetteville, Kathy Sheehan of the City of Albany and Christopher Taylor of the City of Ann Arbor, to name a few.
Who are the Climate Mayors?
The movement that is Climate Mayors, officially known as the Mayors' National Climate Action Agenda (MNCAA), had its roots in the Climate Preparedness and Resiliency Task Force when Barack Obama was the US president. Then mayors Eric Garcetti, Annise Parker, and Michael Nutter, who represented the three largest cities in the task force — Los Angeles, Houston and Philadelphia — came together to launch the MNCAA.
Since then, the number of signatories to the MNCAA has only swelled, as has the grouping's opposition to the views on climate change that Trump and his administration holds. The Climate Mayors have — after Trump became president — made several attempts to steer him towards better judgment on climate change.
They also wrote to him an open letter on March 28 this year after it became apparent that he was rolling back climate actions taken by the previous regime and rendering the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) toothless.
