Report: US Will Stay in Paris Climate Agreement After All

But a White House official says not so fast
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 16, 2017 4:44 PM CDT
Report: US Will Stay in Paris Climate Agreement After All
President Trump waves as he walks from the Oval Office of the White House.   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

It turns out the US isn't pulling out of the Paris climate agreement after all. Or maybe it is. But it might not. Really it's all a little unclear. In an exclusive report Saturday, the Wall Street Journal states a Trump administration official told a room of international politicians that the US will remain in the Paris climate agreement while likely lowering emissions-reduction goals it had set for itself under President Obama. “The US has stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris accord, but they will try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement,” the European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy tells the Journal.

The announcement was reportedly made by senior White House adviser Everett Eissenstat during a meeting of more than 30 international ministers Saturday in Montreal. An unnamed official present for the meeting tells the Journal that Eissenstat said the White House is looking at relaxing its emissions goals while remaining in the agreement. “They are seriously considering the terms on which the US could re-engage,” the official says. “They have also made clear that they have no intention to renegotiate." However, in response to the Journal report a White House official tells NBC News that there has been "no change" to the US' position on the Paris climate agreement, which President Trump had committed to pulling out of in June. (More Paris Agreement stories.)

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