CHICAGO (AP) — Dozens of mayors from around the world signed a “Chicago Climate Charter” on Tuesday at a summit designed to address concerns following President Donald Trump’s rejection of the Paris climate accord.
Former President Barack Obama was expected to address the crowd in the afternoon, following sessions on transportation, energy and waste management for mayors from cities including Paris, Mexico City, San Francisco and Phoenix.
“Climate change can be solved by human action,” said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s former chief of staff. “We lead respectively where there is no consensus or directive out of our national governments.”
Chicago officials billed the North American Climate Summit, which began Monday evening, as the first of its kind for the city. Leaders elsewhere have taken similar action, despite Trump’s announcement earlier this year that the U.S. would pull out of the 2015 Paris agreement, which involves nations setting benchmarks to reduce emissions of heat-trapping gases. The U.S. won’t technically back out until 2020 because of legal technicalities.