Yesterday, the President of the United States announced the country would be withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement. The European Geosciences Union (EGU) strongly opposes this decision. The overwhelming scientific consensus is that climate is changing as a consequence of human activity, and that reducing greenhouse-gas emissions is vital to limit global warming and lower the risk of dangerous climate impacts.

”Rejecting the Paris Agreement is rejecting the overwhelming political and scientific consensus; it is an irrational, myopic and, ultimately, self-defeating decision,” says EGU President Jonathan Bamber. “The EGU is committed to supporting the integrity of its scientific community and the science that it undertakes.”

Over 190 nations adopted the agreement in December 2015, and the US now joins only Syria and Nicaragua in rejecting the accord. After President Trump’s announcement, European countries, China, India and many other nations, states and businesses around the world, including across the US, have reiterated their commitment to the Paris Agreement.

Bamber says: “The momentum is so great and supported by so many nations that [this decision] will be no more than an unwelcome bump in the road rather than anything more serious. Individual states such as California will carry on doing what the rest of the world knows is the right thing to do on combating climate change”.

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is Europe’s premier geosciences union, dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the Earth, planetary, and space sciences for the benefit of humanity, worldwide. It is a non-profit interdisciplinary learned association of scientists founded in 2002 with headquarters in Munich, Germany. The EGU has a current portfolio of 17 diverse scientific journals, which use an innovative open access format, and organises a number of topical meetings, and education and outreach activities. Its annual General Assembly is the largest and most prominent European geosciences event, attracting over 13,000 scientists from all over the world. The meeting’s sessions cover a wide range of topics, including volcanology, planetary exploration, the Earth’s internal structure and atmosphere, climate, energy, and resources. The EGU 2018 General Assembly is taking place in Vienna, Austria, from 8 to 13 April 2018. For information about meeting and press registration, please check http://media.egu.eu closer to the time of the meeting, or follow the EGU on Twitter and Facebook.

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