Attorney General TJ Donovan said he has joined 18 other attorneys general in support of the international climate pact that President Donald Trump pulled out of last week.
The Paris Agreement, as the compact is known, was signed by nearly every country in the world in December 2015. It aims to prevent carbon dioxide pollution from warming Earth’s climate by more than about 3 degrees Fahrenheit.
Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the agreement spurred Gov. Phil Scott, a fellow Republican, to join several other states in adopting the Paris Agreement’s goals for themselves.
Donovan joins numerous attorneys general, mayors and localities in pledging to stand by the accord in spite of Trump’s actions.
The attorney general’s office has the power to pursue cases that threaten that commitment, said Rob McDougall, chief of the Environmental Protection Division in the AG’s office.
“This is a statement to show that Vermont wants to be on the right side of the climate fight with the rest of the world,” McDougall said Tuesday. “We’re not going to stand on the sidelines and watch the rest of the world deal with this global (issue).”
As examples of actions the AG’s office can take in defense of the Paris agreement’s goals, McDougall said the office has in the past held Volkswagen accountable for fraudulent emissions claims and defended former President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan.
“The way we do our part is in the cases we bring,” McDougall said.
