Think of the Paris climate accord as a delicate scale. Every nation works to meet carefully co-determined carbon cuts, holding one another accountable towards the utterly un-simple goal of limiting catastrophic global warming. By withdrawing the U.S., President Trump has lifted a critical weight from one end of this scale. How and whether it can right itself is an open question.
That is why now some 246 American mayors, under the mantle of the Mayors National Climate Action Agenda (or “U.S. Climate Mayors”), have formally pledged to “adopt, honor, and uphold the commitments to the goals enshrined in the Paris Agreement." Initially a collective of several dozen progressive, big-city mayors who’ve already taken publicly defiant stances against the Trump administration—among them, L.A.’s Eric Garcetti, New York City’s Bill de Blasio, and Chicago’s Rahm Emanuel—the consortium has now swollen to include plenty of names outside the usual suspects. “We cannot protect America's interests without a seat at the table, so San Diego will continue to lead on environmental protection,” San Diego’s Republican Mayor, Kevin Faulconer, stated last week.
