Gov. Jerry Brown, Michael Bloomberg Challenge Trump Administration On Climate Change, Paris Climate Agreement Goals

California Gov. Jerry Brown and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg want the United States to double its current greenhouse-gas emission reductions.

They issued their call on Thursday at Brown’s Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco.

The Trump administration has vowed to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement.

“That’s a major assault on the well-being of the people of California, and America, and the world. It borders not only on insanity, but criminality,” Brown said.

But the “America’s Pledge” report issued by Brown and Bloomberg says the nation can — and should — meet the agreement’s goal, anyway: a 26 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.

Bloomberg says since 2005, the United States has already cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 12 percent.

“So, while the spotlight is on Washington, the real action is happening outside the Beltway in both red and blue states,” Bloomberg said. “This really is a bottom-up and locally led movement.”

The summit’s goal is to have cities, countries and private industries work to more than double that reduction by 2025. They hope to mitigate the negative effects of climate change like sea level rise, wildfires and severe drought.