French minister says U.S. energy secretary has not signaled climate backpedalling

[April 10, 2017]    ROME (Reuters) - U.S. energy secretary Rick Perry has said nothing about the U.S. backpedaling on climate change commitments, French Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy Segolene Royal said on Monday.

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry testifies before a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on his nomination to be Energy secretary at Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 19, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

In March U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order to undo Obama-era climate change regulations, keeping a campaign promise to support the coal industry.

The order called into question U.S. support for an international deal to fight global warming, prompting environmental groups to call it dangerous and against the global trend toward cleaner energy technologies.

"Contacts with the new minister are very friendly," she said, adding the U.S. administration was in the process of elaborating its new policies.

Segolene Royal was speaking on the sidelines of a G7 meeting on energy in Rome.

(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes and Alberto Sisto)

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