Olympia officials will ignore President’s decision to leave climate pact

City of Olympia officials reaffirmed their commitment to the environment Friday in the wake of President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the United States out the world’s climate change pact.

“We strongly believe that Olympia must do its part in the fight against climate change, and that now, more than ever, we must show leadership,” Mayor Cheryl Selby said. “We look forward to engaging with our community in this important effort. We will not quit.”

Olympia isn’t the only government maintaining its environmental commitments. The Wall Street Journal reports that 20 states and Washington D.C. have adopted their own climate emission targets.

On Thursday, Gov. Jay Inslee called Trump’s decision a “shameful course of action” and vowed the state would continue to take action to reduce carbon emissions.

In 2015, the Olympia joined 7,000 cities worldwide — the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy — that are committed to taking bold action on climate change.

The city council adopted a goal of reducing local greenhouse gases by 80 percent by 2050. City officials hope to adopt a climate action plan by 2018, which would outline a plan for achieving that goal.

This story was originally published June 3, 2017 at 4:56 AM with the headline "Olympia officials will ignore President’s decision to leave climate pact."