German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she won’t give up trying to persuade doubters among her global peers that climate change is real, signaling her message for a Group of Seven summit starting Friday.
Merkel called on countries to uphold the Paris Agreement to combat climate change and limit the rise of global temperatures, which was brokered by nearly 200 nations in 2015 and entered into force in November. U.S. President Donald Trump, who has called global warming a hoax, may be on the verge of saying whether he’ll stick to the pact.
“Today, we need to capture the same spirit that marked the completion of the climate pact in Paris, in terms of implementation in Europe, among G-7 and G-20 countries, and the United Nations,” Merkel said Tuesday in a speech to a conference in Berlin. “I am trying to persuade the doubters.”
Merkel, a former environment minister, has consistently championed the Paris agreement, which pledged emerging countries such as China to combat global warming for the first time. The potentially divisive topic is likely to be on the agenda as well when Merkel hosts fellow Group of 20 leaders for a summit in Hamburg in July.