US environment chief exits G7 climate talks early

Ministers and EU members pose for a family picture during the first day of two days of the G7 Ministerial Meeting on Environment in Bologna, Italy, 11 June 2017. From left Miguel Arias Canete, EU commissioner for Energy and Climate Action, Barbara Hendricks (Germany), Scott Pruitt (US), Catherine McKenna (Canada), Gian Luca Galletti (Italy), Virginie Dumoulin (France), Andrea Leadsom (UK), Koichi Yamamoto (Japan) and Karmenu Vella, EU commissioner for the Environment. (EPA photo)

ROME -- US environment chief Scott Pruitt is being recalled from Group of Seven climate talks in Italy. Mr Pruitt, who as Environmental Protection Agency administrator successfully campaigned for the US to quit the landmark Paris climate agreement, will leave Bologna for a meeting with President Donald Trump just hours after arriving Sunday, according to a spokesman for the G-7 talks, Davide Russo.

Jane Nishida, acting EPA assistant administrator, will attend in his place.

Mr Pruitt’s early exit from the discussions may further obstruct plans by environment ministers at the two-day meeting. The delegates from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK were planning to issue a communique on a range of green issues including climate change on Monday.

Expectations for the G-7 talks were already low, given Mr Trump’s decision on June 1 to withdraw from the Paris agreement that was signed in 2015 by almost 200 nations. His plans to renegotiate a more favourable deal for the US have been rebuffed by the leaders of Germany, France and Italy.