Trump may not pull out of Paris climate deal, McKenna says

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna tells CTV's Question Period that she's optimistic that the U.S. may not pull out of the Paris climate deal.

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says she's optimistic that the U.S. may not pull out of the Paris climate deal.

During his campaign, U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to take the United States out of the 2015 climate deal reached in Paris. His predecessor, Barack Obama, had signed on to cut carbon emissions by 26 to 28 per cent of 2005 levels by 2025.

But McKenna says she's seeing promising signs the Trump administration "is seriously considering" staying in the agreement.

"It could have been an announcement earlier where they were going to pull out, [but] they didn't do that," McKenna said in an interview with Evan Solomon, host of CTV's Question Period.

"There's certainly been positive signals from the president. I've certainly been making the case once again that this is an opportunity, that the world is going in a cleaner direction, that there's flexibility within the Paris agreement and it's better to be at the table than not."

Politico reported earlier this month that Trump officials are considering staying in the global climate deal. Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband, top Trump adviser Jared Kushner, are reportedly in favour of remaining part of the agreement in a bid to boost the president’s green credentials, according to Politico.

McKenna has met with Scott Pruitt, the top official at the Environmental Protection Agency, who earlier this month said he didn't believe carbon emissions are a primary contributor to global warming. Pruitt said there's "tremendous disagreement" about the impact of CO2, despite the vast majority of scientists agreeing the science is clear that emissions warm the Earth's atmosphere.

The Canadian government was an enthusiastic supporter of the Paris deal and is mandating a national carbon price for each province and territory as part of its plan to lower emissions. Despite those differences, McKenna says she and Pruitt had a great discussion, and that the two governments can find common ground.

"They will spend money on clean energy innovation because it's going to create jobs," McKenna said.

"I spoke to Administrator Pruitt on this, and we actually share something similar with the United States, clearly, which is creating jobs and creating economic growth. If you look at the sectors -- the renewables sector, you look at the clean technology sector, it's growing in double digits."

McKenna wouldn't say whether Pruitt is a climate change denier, responding only that they had "a great discussion."

"I've made the case very strongly that this is a huge opportunity ... there's an economic case for taking action to clean up all sectors," she said.