The G20 summit closed in Hamburg, Germany, on Saturday with all 19 countries except for the United States signing on to a declaration calling the 2015 Paris climate accord “irreversible.” Multiple world leaders condemned President Trump and the United States for being the sole G20 country to break its commitment to the Paris deal. This is British Prime Minister Theresa May.
Prime Minister Theresa May: “Like other world leaders here, I’m dismayed at the U.S. decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement. And I’ve urged President Trump to rejoin the Paris Agreement. The U.K.’s own commitment to the Paris Agreement and tackling global climate change is as strong as ever.”
Despite the unity among all 19 other G20 countries on the Paris climate accord, environmental organizations say the G20 countries still provide $72 billion per year in public financing for fossil fuels—nearly four times as much as they provide for clean energy. On Saturday morning, Greenpeace activists outside the G20 summit scaled a bridge and hung a gigantic banner that simply stated “End Coal.” Later in the day, more than 75,000 people took to the streets of Hamburg for a massive
demonstration against the G20. The massive march capped off days of widespread demonstrations against the G20, which saw more than 100,000 demonstrators and violent police repression, including the use of water cannons, pepper spray and stun grenades to disperse protesters. We’ll have more on the G20 countries’ public financing for fossil fuels later in the broadcast.