Obama Rues Loss of ‘American Leadership’ on Climate Change – New York Times

Mr. Trump announced last month that he would pull the United States out of the 2015 Paris accord, in which nearly 200 nations pledged to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The Obama administration had agreed as part of that pact to cut emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels within 10 years, and to help support poor countries dealing with the consequences of disasters stemming from climate change.

Mr. Trump suggested other nations had bested the United States in the negotiations and called the climate deal a bad one for America, saying he had been elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.

Besides announcing the withdrawal from the Paris agreement, the Trump administration is unraveling domestic measures that would have helped the United States reach its emissions target. The administrations plan for rolling back Mr. Obamas sweeping federal regulation on coal-fired power plants, known as the Clean Power Plan, is expected to be released in the coming days.

Mr. Obama and his family have been touring Indonesia, where he and his mother lived for several years beginning when he was 6 years old. The Obamas visited his childhood home in Jakarta, went rafting on the resort island of Bali and visited famous sites like Borobodur, the 9th-century Buddhist temple. On Friday, Mr. Obama met with President Joko Widodo.

Mr. Obama said in his speech Saturday that he had never forgotten his time in Indonesia, contrasting the Jakarta of today with the city he remembered. If the rainy season came, the floods would come up to your waist, and youd have to clean out the floors in your house and then chase the chickens because theyd gone someplace else, he said to laughter.

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Obama Rues Loss of 'American Leadership' on Climate Change - New York Times

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