FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL Macron has launched a website aimed at attracting researchers, entrepreneurs and others to France to pursue efforts to combat climate change.
The 39-year-old, who said last week that US President Donald Trump had made an historic error by abandoning the Paris climate accord, used a cheeky twist of Trump’s campaign slogan for the site’s name: www.makeourplanetgreatagain.fr.
“The planet needs your innovative skills. So, are you IN to change (literally!) our daily lives and make our planet great again?” it asked, under the video clip Macron made last week, in English, in response to Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris deal.
Clicking through, users are asked to choose if they are researchers, business people, teachers, students or others, and which country they come from, and are able to fill in their details with a promise they will be contacted within three days.
“You are the new actors of this fight. Your commitment can inspire many others,” it said, asking them to share their stories on Twitter.
“This is the only way we can spread the word: Something is happening. Our planet is about to be great again.”
World leaders mostly reacted with anger and defiance after Trump announced that the United States, the world’s second biggest carbon emitter, was quitting the deal hammered out in 2015 in the French capital.
Some huge tech companies, including Microsoft and Facebook, pledged to abide by the restrictions of the Climate Accord, despite the US refusal to sign the agreement.
Led by Macron and Germany’s Angela Merkel, they branded Trump’s decision as misguided and vowed to defend an accord they portrayed as crucial for the future of the planet.
Leading greenhouse gas emitter China promised to uphold the pact while European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said there could be “no backsliding” on the deal.
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