Clinton's Strategy Insufficient to Tackle Climate Change - Friends of Earth

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump are preparing to face off during the US presidential elections on November 8. Clinton's campaign listed protecting wildlife as well as tackling climate change as major policy issues, while Trump's campaign largely omitted any statements on the environment.

"Secretary Clinton is clearly better than Donald Trump on climate change. Still, she is not nearly ambitious enough… If Secretary Clinton becomes President the climate movement is going to have to continue to organize and to convince her that the American people are demanding climate action," Ben Schreiber, the director of the Friends of the Earth US climate program, said.

Gaps in Clinton's plans include the failure to address various free trade deals that ease restrictions on fossil fuel companies, as well propose controls on agricultural and industrial meat corporations and restrict fracking, Schreiber added, noting that the Democratic platform is nevertheless substantive and better than the Republican one.

The environmentalist warned that Trump's presidency would endanger the Paris Agreement.

"The whole world should be concerned that Donald Trump would undermine the Paris Agreement. The agreement in Paris is inadequate for the problem and weak US commitments are a big reason for that. We need the next President to make stronger commitments, not take us in the wrong direction,” he said.

The Paris Agreement on climate change was adopted in December 2015 at the 21st UN Climate Change Conference (COP21). The deal aims to limit global average temperatures to less than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The agreement also aims to create more financing to curb greenhouse gas emissions and support more climate-resilient development.