Guest essay by Eric Worrall

Gulf News, whose holding company is chaired by the United Arab Emirates Minister for Finance, has printed an article demanding the USA cut CO2 Emissions in line the Paris Agreement.

The US must act on climate change

The Paris Agreement is our best hope yet in preventing irrevocable environmental damage and all must adhere to its limits.

Published: 17:22 May 28, 2017

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Trump has repeatedly said that he will decide on the Paris Agreement by the end of May, and with that now upon us, the danger is that he may renege on the US commitment to adhere to its environmental responsibilities.

Should Trump baulk, the danger is that other mass emitters of greenhouse gases such as China and India will follow suit, rendering what is our best hope to negate climate change as virtually worthless. This decision by Trump is crucial — and so too how nations react. We much not let this period now be the turning point where future generations look back through the fog of their dangerously warmed up world and say: “That was the beginning of the end.”

Read more: http://ift.tt/2r6Tb4I

Arab News Outlets frequently blame major weather disasters on Western CO2 emissions. The terrorist Osama Bin Laden on several occasions raised historic US CO2 emissions as another reason to hate – he saw Western pre-occupation with climate as an opportunity to destabilise the West.

I’m not suggesting Gulf News and their sponsors are intentionally seeking to use the Paris Treaty as a means to sabotage US fossil fuel interests, to help promote their own exports. But it seems more than a little hypocritical for a news outlet with strong connections to the UAE government, substantial exporters of oil, to be criticising someone elses contribution to CO2 emissions.