Des Moines Mayor Cownie promises commitment to Paris climate accord

MacKenzie Elmer | The Des Moines Register

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump: The U.S. will withdraw from the Paris Accord President Donald Trump has announced the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.

Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie joined a coalition of more than 200 U.S. mayors committed to upholding the Paris Agreement, a global accord aimed at addressing climate change from which President Donald Trump withdrew last week.

These local leaders, who collectively represent over 54 million Americans, vow to strengthen efforts within their cities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions despite the president's decision, according to a Monday news release. Trump fulfilled his campaign promise to pull out of international voluntary effort to reduce greenhouse gases on June 1, a decision that launched a nationwide backlash from business owners to local governments to governors.

“The recent action by the White House to withdraw from the Paris Agreement does not stop Des Moines’ efforts in advancing our own efforts on climate change. Cities like Des Moines will continue to work to make our communities more sustainable places to live,” Cownie said in a written statement.

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In a half-hour speech in the White House Rose Garden, Trump did not address the scientific consensus that rising global temperatures — almost certainly caused by human activity since the industrial revolution — is a threat to the planet. He has previously called that science “an expensive hoax” perpetrated by the Chinese, and White House officials have deflected repeated questions about whether Trump still believes that to be the case.

"Pulling out of the Paris Agreement is just total ignorance of a fact that the rest of the world has acknowledged," Cownie said in an interview with the Register. "I don't think we're going to give up as local governments. ... This isn't a four or eight-year commitment. This has to be for eternity."

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Dubuque Mayor Roy D. Buol is the only other Iowa mayor to join the network of so-called Climate Mayors.

Other Iowa leaders joined an even broader movement dubbed "We Are Still In." More than 1,200 governors, mayors, businesses, investors, and colleges and universities from across the U.S. assembled in a pact to reduce the country's emissions, according to a Monday news release.

"The Trump administration's announcement undermines a key pillar in the fight against climate change and damages the world's ability to avoid the most dangerous and costly effects of climate change," the release reads. "Importantly, it is also out of step with what is happening in the United States."

The Iowa signers include: state Attorney General Tom Miller; J. Bruce Harreld, president of the University of Iowa; Raynard Kington, president of Grinnell College; Paula Carlson, president of Luther College.

Des Moines' most recent efforts to combat climate change began with adopting more sustainable building practices, a policy the city enacted in 2006.

The city completed its first green building in 2014 — the Municipal Services Center along Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway — which is certified as LEED or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards. The city Parks and Recreation also began incorporating alternative fuels like bio-diesel and adding some hybrid vehicles to its fleet.

"We're trying to look at every part of our operation, including the work we do with business partners and neighborhood where they can afford it," Cownie said.

In 2016, the mayor committed Des Moines to reducing its energy consumption 50 percent by 2030 and become carbon-neutral by 2050 under the City Energy Project

. Des Moines and 20 other cities could reduce carbon pollution by 9.6 million metric tons or the equivalent of taking 2 million cars off the road each year.

"Climate change is bigger than all of us. We know we must do what is right for our people and our planet and continue to find ways to reduce our impact on the environment,” Cownie said.

USA Today contributed to this report.