Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Pittsburgh mayor attacks Trump for saying he withdrew from Paris agreement for people of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh voted for Hillary Clinton. It also supports regulating greenhouse gases

Clark Mindock
New York
Thursday 01 June 2017 22:28 BST
Comments
The mayor of Pittsburgh says that his city will follow Paris climate guidelines
The mayor of Pittsburgh says that his city will follow Paris climate guidelines (Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The mayor of Pittsburgh has torn into Donald Trump after the president said he was “elected to represent Pittsburgh not Paris.”

Bill Peduto, Pittsburgh’s Democratic mayor, noted on Twitter that his city voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election and said that his city would still adhere to the guidelines put in place by the Paris accord that Mr Trump is pulling the US out of.

“As the Mayor of Pittsburgh, I can assure you that we will follow the guidelines of the Paris Agreement for our people, our economy, and future,” Mr Peduto wrote in one of the messages.

“Fact: Hillary Clinton received 80 percent of the vote in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh stands with the world, and will follow Paris Agreement,” he wrote in another.

That message was later seen by the mayor of Paris, who wrote that Paris and Pittsburgh “stand together” in the Paris agreement.

Pittsburgh voters, in addition to preferring a world in which Ms Clinton is sitting behind the Resolute Desk, also tend to support regulating carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, as a pollutant. A full 80 percent of adults in Pittsburgh support doing so Allegheny County, which encompasses Pittsburgh, according to Yale University’s Climate Change Communication. When accounting for the whole Pittsburgh metropolitan area the support drops only slightly, to 77 percent.

Mr Trump promised on the campaign trail to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement, which was negotiated for heavily by former President Barack Obama. During the campaign, Mr Trump said that climate change was a hoax perpetuated by the Chinese, and later mocked the idea that climate change — which is a calculation based temperature measurements over an extended period of time — exists because the Northeast United States went through a cold spell while he was in his New York penthouse.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in