World leaders cling to climate commitment

The leaders of the G20 group of the world’s largest economies—with the exception of the United States—have reaffirmed their commitment to the 2016 Paris climate change agreement.

A joint statement published after the G20 summit in Hamburg last week confirmed US president Donald Trump’s intention to withdraw the United States from the Paris agreement. However, it went on to say that for the leaders of the other G20 members the agreement is “irreversible”.

“We reaffirm our strong commitment to the Paris agreement, moving swiftly towards its full implementation,” the statement said. In a separate paragraph, it said the United States would “endeavour to work closely with other countries to help them access and use fossil fuels more cleanly and efficiently and help deploy renewable and other clean energy sources”.