The White House pushed back Saturday at a European suggestion it was softening its stance on the Paris climate accord, insisting Washington will withdraw from the agreement unless it can re-enter on more favourable terms.
The remark came as environment ministers from some 30 countries gathered in Montreal seeking headway on the Paris climate accord, which President Donald Trump had pulled out of in June.
At the summit, which was attended by a US observer, the US "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 Union's top climate official Miguel Arias Canete said.
Canete said there would be a meeting on the sidelines of next week's UN General Assembly with American representatives "to assess what is the real US position," noting "it's a message which is quite different to the one we heard from President Trump in the past."
The US observer was not immediately available for comment and the White House insisted the United States would withdraw from the Paris climate accord without more favourable terms.
Called by Canada, China and the European Union, the summit took place 30 years to the day after the signing of the Montreal Protocol on protecting the ozone layer – which Canada's environment minister hailed as a multilateral "success story" by governments, NGOs and ordinary citizens jointly tackling a major global threat.
Nearly 200 countries agreed in Paris in December 2015 to curb carbon dioxide emissions with the aim of limiting the rise in average global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, compared to preindustrial levels.
When Trump decided in June to withdraw, Canada, China and the European Union immediately reaffirmed their respective commitments to the pact, which the Group of 20 declared "irreversible" the following month.
Fossil fuel bans
Time is ticking, Canete said, as ministers work to narrow their differences and better understand how to implement the ambitious accord – with less than two months to go until the next UN Conference on Climate Change (COP23), in Bonn in November.
Key player China – the world's largest car market – brings to the table a potentially major advance in transportation after announcing its intention to ban gasoline and diesel-fuelled cars, following decisions by France and Britain to outlaw their sale from 2040.
The European Union, which is targeting a 40% cut to its emissions by 2030, will also shortly put forward a proposal to member states on slashing carbon emissions in the transportation sector, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said this week.
