(Bloomberg) -- The government of Sweden is paying for a former U.S. Interior Department official and prominent critic of President Donald Trump's climate policy to attend next week's United Nations climate conference in Germany, where he says he will speak about the U.S. "war on science."
Joel Clement became a minor celebrity in July, when he wrote an op-ed that appeared in the Washington Post. The piece described Clement's transfer from his job focused on climate adaptation to one "in the accounting office that collects royalty checks from fossil fuel companies." Clement called the reassignment retribution for his position on climate change. He resigned from the government last month.
Clement said he will go to to the UN climate conference in Bonn "with the kind support of the Government of Sweden and the Stockholm Environment Institute," a research organization with U.S. offices. Swedish officials approached him about going, he said by email.
He said he plans "to speak about what is happening inside the US federal government, including but not limited to the absurd war on science and fact."
Sweden has made a point of ribbing Trump on climate change. In February, the government passed a law mandating deep cuts to carbon emissions, arguing that "the U.S. is not there anymore to lead." In June, after Trump announced his intention to abandon the Paris climate accord, Sweden's foreign affairs minister called the move "a decision to leave humanity's last chance of securing our children's future on this planet."
To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Flavelle in Washington at cflavelle@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, Mark Drajem
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