EU leaders said Thursday they were ready to move on with the implementation of the Paris climate pact after the United States declared it would pull out of the 2015 deal to cut carbon emissions.
US President Donald Trump announced the climate policy reversal earlier this month, claiming the arrangement, hammered out by his predecessor, was harmful for the national economy and job growth.
“The European Council strongly reaffirms the commitment of the EU and its Member States to swiftly and fully implement the Paris Agreement,” the leaders’ communique read.
In a thinly-veiled reference to Trump’s offer to revise its terms, the 28-nation bloc reiterated after Brussels summit talks that the agreement “remains a cornerstone of global efforts to effectively tackle climate change, and cannot be renegotiated.”
The pact seeks to keep the global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. It has been ratified by 149 parties of 197 parties that signed up to it at the UN climate change convention two years ago.