Former Vice President and environmental advocate Al Gore has reportedly spoken to President Trump about remaining in the Paris climate agreement.
Former Vice President and environmental advocate Al Gore has reportedly spoken to President Trump about remaining in the Paris climate agreement.
According to Axios, which first reported the story, the two men spoke on the phone Tuesday morning about U.S. participation in the international agreement.
CNN has described the conversation as a “cordial talk.”
Meanwhile, an insider close to Gore told Axios, “Mr. Gore made the case for why the U.S. should stay in the Agreement and meet our commitments.”
The Axios report also states that “the source was not sure who initiated the conversation but noted, ‘this is not the first time he's been in touch with the President and others in the Administration about this issue.'”
In December, during the transition, Gore was spotted at Trump Tower; what he thought would be a climate-related meeting with Ivanka Trump turned into a conversation with her father.
The New York Times notes that the former vice president said afterwards, “I had a lengthy and very productive session with the president-elect. It was a sincere search for areas of common ground...I found it an extremely interesting conversation, and to be continued.”
However, Mashable points out that since taking office, Trump has made several controversial decisions related to the environment including appointing climate skeptic Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency and cutting funding to agencies which research climate science.
According to the Washington Post, though Trump campaigned on pulling out the Paris accord, the White House recently announced that the administration would be delaying its final decision until at least late May.
