President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday that rich industrialized countries should 鈥渉eartily鈥� adopt the Paris climate agreement or it would be 鈥渁 farce.鈥�
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鈥淯nless the hypocrites, the big powers really,听adopt it heartily, then we could have climate change,鈥� Duterte said in a speech in during the presentation of new generation currencies in Malaca帽ang.
He said the effects of climate change would come 鈥渇ast鈥� if the signatories of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change would not be compelled to follow the pact.
鈥淭his climate change (agreement) could be a farce if we cannot compel the other nations, especially the industrialized nations to follow,鈥� he said.
In March 2017, in spite of misgivings,听President Duterte signed the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, a pact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and keep rising global temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius.
The President had earlier blamed climate change on rich Western countries like the United States, Spain, France, Britain and Italy.
He said these countries have caused the warming of temperatures worldwide.
鈥淭hey went to the Middle East and siphoned off the oil of the Arabs,鈥� he said in Filipino.听听 /muf