Trump's Republican allies tread lightly on Paris Pact at COP29

Republican allies of former President Donald Trump in Congress appeared at U.N. climate talks this week to promote natural gas and nuclear energy, but largely avoided addressing the looming threat of a U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement.

Biden administration officials sought to reassure global delegates in Baku, arguing that Trump's planned pullout would have minimal impact on the global effort to combat climate change.

A small group of Republican lawmakers attending the COP29 conference represent states with significant oil fields, coal mines, and auto manufacturing industries. Among them was Rep. Morgan Griffith, an Ohio congressman and member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, who has supported the Paris agreement in the past.

When asked if he would back a U.S. withdrawal from the accord, Griffith said, “We don’t want to get in front of the president. It just depends on what we deem to be in the best interest of the United States.”

The Paris agreement, which was signed by nearly 200 countries, aims to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 with the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Griffith, a vocal supporter of the fossil fuel industry, expressed concern about the push to eliminate all fossil fuels, suggesting it would not be practical for both developing and industrialized countries. “In our country, there’s a blind rush just to eliminate all fossil fuels, and I don’t think that’s practical,” he said.

Rep. August Pfluger, a Texas Republican who led the House energy committee’s delegation, pointed to the U.S. election as a clear mandate. "The people in the United States overwhelmingly supported President Donald Trump and his promise to restore American energy dominance," Pfluger said during a news conference.

Pfluger was also asked about the Paris agreement and suggested that the outcome of the election showed voters’ concern about inflation. “Energy is the foundation of that,” he said. “If an agreement is going to hurt, if something is going to actually decrease our ability to do that, then we would want to look at that. But that’s for the president to say.”

At the U.S. pavilion at COP29, Griffith and two other congressmen, including a Democrat, praised nuclear energy as part of the solution to reducing global emissions. The panel was moderated by Heather Reams, president of the conservative nonprofit Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions, which advocates for Republican engagement on climate policy.

Reams told The Associated Press that her group supports the U.S. remaining in the Paris agreement, calling it “symbolic” for the country to be a global leader on climate issues. She also expressed support for the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which includes hundreds of billions of dollars in tax credits and investments aimed at clean energy.

"We are very supportive of those tax credits,” Reams said. “We intend to try to protect them and make the case to the new administration and with Republicans in Congress.”

Pfluger said any parts of the IRA that are seen as incompatible with the goal of lowering prices for Americans would be scrutinized by a Republican-led Congress starting in January.

Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, Sen. Ed Markey said the Biden administration should “get as much of the IRA money out the door as it can” before Trump potentially takes office again. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse also suggested the U.S. could deliver its new emissions-reduction target for 2035 to the U.N. before a potential Trump presidency.

However, Whitehouse warned that a second Trump administration would likely have a “negative” impact on the climate effort, adding that Democrats in Congress would face difficulty blocking Trump’s nominees for energy and environmental positions if the GOP controls both chambers.

“A good deal of it is out of our hands,” Whitehouse said.