Taking his criticism of US President Donald Trump’s stand on climate change to the next level, French President Emmanuel Macron has launched a website inviting US scientists and research scholars to live in France and do research there on climate change. Earlier this month, after the US exit from the Paris Climate Agreement, he had assured the US scientists that France was like a second homeland for them.
The website ‘Make Our Planet Great Again’ (www.makeourplanetgreatagain.fr),
an apparent dig at Donald Trump’s favourite slogan ‘Make America Great Again
(#MAGA), says it is an initiative of President of France Emmanuel Macron who
launched it to invite American scientists to “come work in France after facing
the climatic skepticism of the new government of the United States.”
Macron says “he wants to make our planet great again” and
appeals to the scientists that “the planet needs their innovative skills” and
asks “if they you IN to change (literally) our daily lives and make our planet
great again?” While terming the US decision unfortunate, he says “it has only
reinforced our determination. Don’t let it weaken yours. We are ONE planet and together,
we can make a difference.”
On June 1, US President Donald Trump had pulled the US out
of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, a global climate pact to deal with
emission of greenhouse gases. 195 countries signed the agreement document in
December 2015 and 147 countries have ratified it so far and the agreement came into
effect on November 4, 2016. Trump has been a vocal critic of the Paris climate
deal and he had promised to cancel the deal if he became the US President.
After Trump’s announcement, according to France 24*, while slamming
Trump for making a historic mistake, Macron said the US scientists and
entrepreneurs “disappointed” by Trump’s decision “will find in France a second
homeland: I call on them, come and work here with us.”
It was unprecedented when he chose to address the world in
English from Elysee Place, the official residence of the French president,
after Trump’s no to Paris Accord. It was, in fact, a first for a French
president, The Telegraph** said. Also, the press release sent to French
journalists from the Elysee Palace on the website launch was in English, again “an
unprecedented move by a French president”, the France 24 report said.
Macron, in fact, had released a video statement in English on
Twitter on February 10, while he was campaigning for the French presidential polls,
calling the US scientists and entrepreneurs working on climate change to
relocate to France after Trump had decided to curtail the climate change
research budget.
I have a message for you guys. #ScienceMarch
4:27 PM - 9 Feb 2017
US withdrawing from the Paris Accord is certainly a bad news
as the country is the second largest emitter of the greenhouse gases. China,
the European Union and the US account for more than half of the global greenhouse
gas emissions, an analysis from the World Resources Institute says. The US exit
is bound to affect the norms and goals of the Paris Accord even if other large emitters
including India, Russia, European Union and China have reiterated their commitment.
©SantoshChaubey
