first, let me thank wri and my colleague and good friend todd stern. we sat across each other many long days and nights and. very often opposing each other but we became friends. i want to say what occurred in paris a couple of years ago where despite enormous differences around legal form, around the intricacies of the agreement and necessary approaches to stop this global prop, countries coalesced around a very ambitious agreement. no one got everything that they wanted. we wanted those targets that todd spoke about to be very ambitious and legally binding, and we did not get that, but everyone decided that it was in the best interest not only of their individual countries but the world in general, if we could craft an ambitious global conference that would come to the global challenge of our time and despite the decision by the u.s. administration to announce the withdrawal from the paris agreement i nevertheless believe that the coalition that delivered the paris agreement remains strong. it was not only a coalition of countries, it was a coalition

we will hear from todd stern former u.s.pecial envoy for climate change under president obama and the barbados ambassador to the u.s. and officials from maryland and virginia. they talked about the impact of climate change policy at the state and local level says. this is 90 minutes. >> good afternoon and thank you all for joining us this afternoon. i am paola caballero, and i'm the director for the climate program at wri, and it is my honor to welcome you to the wri event one year later. has the world moved on since president trump's announcement on the paris agreement? i would like to start off, though, that my own personal reflection actually kicks off on the 9th of november of 2016. i was in marrakesh at the climate conference and what i witnessed was a renewed commitment to delivering on paris. i've been cop one if that tells you something and marrakesh stood out with purpose and commitment and what was memorable, what i remember was the steady uptick of countries that continue to ratify the agreement that day and the f

first let me thank wri and my other colleagues and especially my good friend todd stern. we sat across each other many long days and nights. usually opposing each other, but we nevertheless became friends. and i say that to lead into the paris, to what occurred in paris a couple years ago where, despite enormous differences around legal form, around the intricacies of the agreement and the necessary approaches to solve this global problem, countries coalesced around a very ambitious agreement. no one got everything they wanted. we wanted those targets that todd spoke about to be very ambitious and be legally binding. we did not get that. but everyone decided that it was in the best interest not only of their individual countries and future generations, but the world in general. if we could craft an ambitious global agreement that responded to the defining global challenge of our time. and despite the decision by the u.s. administration current u.s. administration to withdraw or announce this withdraw from the paris agreement, i nevertheless believe that the coalition that

we will hear from todd stern former u.s.pecial envoy for climate change under president obama and the barbados ambassador to the u.s. and officials from maryland and virginia. they talked about the impact of climate change policy at the state and local level says. this is 90 minutes. >> good afternoon and thank you all for joining us this afternoon. i am paola caballero, and i'm