Sector condemns Trump climate deal withdrawal

Built environment professionals have united to condemn Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement on climate change, arguing that it will harm the health of the world’s biggest economy.

The president announced last night that the USA will pull out of the worldwide agreement, signed in November 2015, under which 195 nations have agreed measures that are designed to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2C above pre-industrial levels.

John Alker, campaign and policy director at the UK Green Building Council, branded Trump’s move as “predictable and depressing”.

But he said the backlash against Trump from other world leaders, business chiefs and US local politicians, had been “swift and inspiring”.

“The UK Green Building Council is proud to stand together with our colleagues in over 70 countries, including the US, with a global network of 32,000 member businesses around the world. We reject the discredited notion that climate action comes at the expense of economic growth.

“The nations, regions, cities and businesses that will thrive in the future understand and embrace the climate challenge.”

Thomas Vonier, president of the American Institute of Architects, said the AIA would urge its members across the world to continue to help meet the climate accord’s aims.

“Instead of helping our economy, as the Administration contends, withdrawing from the Paris Agreement will put us behind our major global competitors.

“The AIA will not retreat from its long-established efforts to conserve energy and to deploy renewable resources in buildings.

“By adhering to our values as a profession that is concerned with human habitat and the health of our environment, we will help to mitigate the harm this decision will do to our economy and to America’s stature across the globe.”