03 June, 2017
Following President Donald Trump's announcement on Thursday stating the US would back out of the Paris Climate Accord, an effort to stem climate change, several of today's top athletic brands have proclaimed displeasure with the decision.
But his decision was criticised by several leaders at home and overseas.
Greenpeace activists demonstrate outside the United States embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, against Trump's decision that his country, the world's second largest emitter of greenhouse gases, would pull out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
Trump, tapping into the "America First" message he used when he was elected president past year, said the Paris accord would undermine the USA economy, cost U.S. jobs, weaken American national sovereignty and put the country at a permanent disadvantage to the other countries of the world.
Pruitt stood next to Trump on Thursday and applauded the announcement to pull out of the pact.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin spared Trump more withering criticism and urged the world to work with the NY tycoon on climate.
By pulling out of the agreement, the United States joins a small group of countries who did not ratify the agreement-the others being Syria, who was not allowed to join the negotiations because of sanctions, and Nicaragua, who thought the agreement wasn't tough enough. "Today, we are stepping up our cooperation on climate change with China", Mr. Tusk said after EU-China summit in Brussels.
India's environment minister Harsh Vardhan said his country is committed to the Paris accord "irrespective" of the position of other nations.
Trump announced during a speech at the White House Rose Garden that he had chose to pull out of the landmark climate deal, in part because it would not reduce global temperatures fast enough to have a significant impact. "Does it pose an existential threat as some say?"
"I don't even know what it means to deny the climate".
Speaking in Berlin a day earlier, Premier Li said China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, would stick to its commitment to fight climate change.
Pruitt tried to prove his point by quoting an April 29 column in The New York Times where author Bret Stephens questioned scientific studies that seemed to show humans contributed to climate change.
During Friday's press conference, the Sierra Club tweeted it fully supports the Paris agreement and added, "Scott Pruitt is a liar". If he accepts the idea of climate change, it might create a division among him and his base supporters.
Exxon also faces pressure from shareholders, who voted this week for more disclosure about the impact of climate-change regulation on Exxon's business.
Mr. Trump rejected all that, and said the agreement would lead to a redistribution of American wealth to other countries and transfer of American jobs overseas. At the tme, he could not provide an answer.