While Group of 20 leaders try to avoid a showdown with President Donald Trump over the new U.S. position on climate change, the President’s wife and daughter will be forced to face the issue head on.
First daughter Ivanka Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and other G20 spouses will get a tour of the German Climate Computing Center on Friday, Bloomberg reports. It turns out the field trip was the idea of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s husband, Joachim Sauer, who is a professor of physical and theoretical chemistry.
The facility uses supercomputers to model climate change and map its effects on regions all over the world, according to Bloomberg. It is located near the building where the G20 summit is taking place, and has been operating since 1987.
The chancellor’s husband, who is famously publicity-shy, has not commented on the visit. But his wife has been strident about her commitment to addressing climate change.
When Trump pulled out of the Paris climate agreement, saying he wanted to renegotiate “on terms that are fair to the United States,” Merkel and other world leaders stepped in, reaffirming their desire to fight climate change.
“We deem the momentum generated in Paris in December 2015 irreversible, and we firmly believe that the Paris agreement cannot be renegotiated, since it is a vital instrument for our planet, societies and economies,” Merkel said in a joint statement with the leaders of France and Italy after Trump’s June announcement.
She continued on this tack in a combative speech ahead of the G20 summit, according to Bloomberg, subtly criticizing Trump and emphasizing the importance of climate efforts. “We want to tackle this existential challenge and we can’t and we won’t wait until the last person on earth is convinced of the scientific basis for climate change,” she said June 29.
