Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre took a shot Tuesday\u00a0at Donald Trump as he kicked off a gathering of mayors from around the world, vowing that municipal leaders will band together to fight climate change despite\u00a0the U.S. president’s policies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I’d like to thank President Trump, because of his nonsense,” Coderre said, explaining that the president’s\u00a0decision to withdraw the U.S. earlier this month\u00a0from the landmark Paris climate agreement strengthened the resolve of local leaders to deal with environmental issues.<\/p>\n
“Trust me, the mayors of the world will be able to deliver that accord of Paris,” Coderre said\u00a0in a morning speech at the\u00a0Metropolis World Congress, an annual gathering of municipal leaders.<\/p>\n
\u200b”I always said that you don’t define the world through continents and countries anymore, but through cities.”<\/p>\n
The Paris agreement, a 190-nation pact to reduce earth-warming gases, went into effect for the U.S. in November 2016, but was abandoned earlier this month. Trump called the deal\u00a0“very unfair to the United States.”<\/p>\n
Coderre’s\u00a0comments can be understood as part of a growing movement to address environmental and social issues at the local level.<\/p>\n
Shortly after the U.S. backed out of the agreement,\u00a0former New York mayor Michael\u00a0Bloomberg, now a UN special envoy\u00a0for\u00a0cities\u00a0and climate change,\u00a0said\u00a0emission levels in the U.S. “are determined far more by cities, states and businesses than they are by our federal government.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
He also pledged the\u00a0U.S. would still meet its\u00a0commitment\u00a0to\u00a0reduce\u00a0emissions by 26 per cent below\u00a02005 levels by 2025.<\/p>\n
A U.S.-based group known as the\u00a0Climate Mayors now counts 175 members, all municipal leaders who have pledged to “honour\u00a0and uphold the commitments to the goals enshrined in the Paris Agreement.”<\/p>\n
\u200bMore than 140 mayors and 1,000 international and local delegates are gathering this week for the\u00a0Metropolis World Congress at Montreal’s Palais\u00a0des\u00a0congr\u00e8s\u00a0convention centre.<\/p>\n
Among those attending are Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and\u00a0Ron Huldai of Tel Aviv.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Coderre\u00a0is the current president of the\u00a0Metropolis World Congress.<\/p>\n