Somerville Pledges Support Of Paris Accord After Trump Withdrawal

SOMERVILLE, MA – Despite President Donald Trump withdrawing from the historic Paris Climate Accord Thursday, the City of Somerville will stand by the tenets of the agreement. In a tweet Thursday, the City of Somerville announced that it is "still in" on adopting the goals of the Paris Accord.

Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone is part of the Mayors National Climate Action Agenda (“Climate Mayors”), a coalition of 84 mayors representing 40 million Americans nationwide. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell have also pledged to uphold the Paris Accord, and several other city leaders have joined in the wake of the president's decision.

"As 84 Mayors representing 40 million Americans, we will adopt, honor, and uphold the commitments to the goals enshrined in the Paris Agreement," the group wrote in a statement Thursday. "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."

Curtatone took to Twitter Friday to respond to users who asked about greater Boston's luxury real estate market and the previously stalled Green Line Extension project in the context of climate stabilization.

The mayor also issued a statement Friday, saying, "President Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement should serve as a call to action for the rest of us. If he’s backing down at the federal level, we’ll continue to step up at the local level. Our goal of being carbon neutral in Somerville by 2050 remains unchanged. In fact, we are more committed than ever."

Somerville will launch its community planning process on June 26, called Somerville Climate Forward. The city plans to work with residents and businesses to help shape a strategic plan to reduce Somerville's carbon footprint and prepare for the effects of climate change.

"If the president wants to abandon his responsibilities and take a back seat on climate change, Somerville is one of the cities ready to band together and lead the way," Curtatone said in a statement.

The Paris Agreement was signed by 195 countries in 2015 and set a goal of curbing greenhouse gas emissions, along with keeping a global rise in temperature this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. It also calls for an effort to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Under the agreement, every country submitted a plan to lower greenhouse emissions and agreed to meet regularly and share progress. The agreement is non-binding and countries are allowed to adjust their plans depending on their domestic situation, with peer pressure from other countries being the primary motivating factor.

Former President Barack Obama promised to cut greenhouse gasses 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025 and commit $3 billion in aid to poorer countries.

In announcing his decision to withdraw from the agreement, President Trump hailed it as a campaign promise kept.

"One by one we are keeping the promises I made to the people during our campaign," Trump said. "The Paris Climate Accord is simply the latest example of Washington entering into an agreement that disadvantages the U.S."

Trump slammed the deal for not doing enough to curtail emissions in China and India, and said he believes it will hurt economic growth in the United States in the future. He added that he cares deeply about the environment and the U.S. will be "the cleanest" country going forward.

By withdrawing, the United States joins Syria and Nicaragua as the only countries to not participate in the agreement, although it takes four full years to officially withdraw and a new president could reverse the decision before then.

Paige Austin (Patch Staff) contributed to this report.

Photo Credit: Eric Kilby, via Wikimedia Commons