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World News

Church of England anger after Trump walks away from Paris climate change deal

Its lead bishop on the environment, Bishop of Salisbury Rt Rev Nicholas Holtam accused the leader of being "trapped in old world thought and action".

Bishop Nicholas said: "I am, frankly, very disturbed by President Trump's decision to revoke the United States' commitment to the Paris Agreement, which was a global commitment made in good faith.".

President Trump claimed the deal was "less about the climate and more about other countries obtaining a financial advantage over the US". He argued it would be good for US workers and businesses.

Bishop Nicholas went on to say: "How can President Trump look in the eye the people most affected, including the world's poorest in the places most affected by climate change now, and those affected by increasingly frequent extreme weather in parts of the USA?"

David Mizoeff/PA Wire

Paul Bodenham from the campaign group Green Christian told Premier that he can't comprehend why some people aren't concerned about climate change.

Speaking during News Hour he said: "There's a kind of idolatry in a sense that humanity is above all of the impacts that we throw at the planet and we're somehow going to be kind of excused from the consequences that we're making."

In initially agreeing to the deal under the leadership of then-President Barack Obama, the US voluntarily committed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than a quarter by 2025 compared with 2005 levels.

The accord - the first comprehensive global pact on climate change – commits participating nations to keep global temperature rises to "well below" two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

In addition to suggesting Trump was out of touch "with many of his own people", Bishop Nicholas said: "Climate change is one of the great challenges of our times.

"There is a moral and spiritual dimension with a strong consensus built among the faith communities about the care of our common home. The scientific, economic and political arguments point in the same direction."

The Church of England also welcomed a decision by the UK government to ratify the Paris agreement.

Protestors gathered outside the American embassy in London as the US President announced the United States would be backing out of the Paris climate change deal.

Listen to Paul Bodenham from the campaign group Green Christian speaking with Premier's Eno Adeogun:

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