France scoffs at US, modifies White House climate video

New York: The newly-elected French President Emmanuel Macron's administration took a jibe at President Donald Trump's decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord by releasing a modified version of a White House video.

French officials edited the captions that explained why the Paris climate accord was a 'bad deal' for the U.S.

The French Ministry posted the edited White House video on Twitter for Europe, in which Trump announced his decision of the United States withdrawing from the UN-brokered deal, which seeks to limit global temperature raises by 2100 to 2 degrees Celsius above levels recorded before industrialisation.

In a slide by slide repudiation of the Trump administration's claim that "the Paris Accord is a bad deal for America," the edited French version of the White House video read, "Leaving the Paris Accord is a bad deal for America and the world," the CNN reported.

The French video adds, "Major U.S. companies from all sectors such as Exxon Mobil, Schneider Electric or Microsoft, disagree."

Where the White House video claimed the United States set up a $3 billion UN "slush fund," the French video points out that the U.S. financial commitment to the "green climate" fund is less, per capita, than that of many other countries, including Germany and France. Other edits include swapping "badly negotiated" for "comprehensively negotiated".

Calling the President's decision "a mistake" for the U.S. as well as the planet, Macron urged climate change scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs to go to France to continue their work.

"They will find in France a second homeland," Macron said.

"I call on them. Come and work here with us, work together on concrete solutions for our climate, our environment. I can assure you, France will not give up the fight," he added.

Macron said Paris deal would "make our planet great again," a play on Trump's campaign slogan.