00:00Welcome to Ivo Dubor, the former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
00:08Welcome to the program. First of all, let me ask you your reaction to the U.S. withdrawal from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
00:20In a word, saddening. The United States was one of the architects of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
00:31In fact, at the time, Republican President H.W. Bush played a key role in achieving that international treaty.
00:40And in his 1988 campaign, he actually said, those who think we're powerless to do anything about the greenhouse effect are forgetting about the White House effect.
00:49So, in other words, watch out if you don't take action. And now it's almost the reverse and saying, watch out if you do take action.
00:56Can you give us some context then? I mean, how serious is it when the White House walks away from the foundation?
01:07Incredibly serious in the sense that it's the United States has always been a major political player inside the political process.
01:16Secondly, it's part of a larger constituency of countries that hold a fairly similar view.
01:24The U.S. has been a major contributor financially to the budget of the convention and the activities that it undertakes.
01:32And, of course, having one of the most powerful countries in the world back away from this international treaty does significant damage.
01:40When President Trump says organizations like this are woke and act against the American national interest, what's the basis for that? Is he right?
01:54No, I don't think he's right. I think that, you know, it's in the U.S.'s interest, as in everybody's interest, to safeguard us against the severe impacts of climate change.
02:04But the more bizarre thing, in a way, is that the U.N. Climate Convention is a process that takes decisions by consensus.
02:12So if you don't want the process to go in a direction that you don't like, you're much better off being at the table rather than away from it.
02:21I'm sure we'll talk more in coming weeks, but for the moment we have to leave it there.
02:25Thank you very much indeed for your time, Ivo de Boer, the former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
02:33Thank you very much.
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