US election: Climate experts react to Donald Trump’s victory
With Donald Trump winning a come-back victory as president of the United States and results pointing to Republican control of both chambers of Congress, analysts and commentators around the world are offering their views on what this means for the world’s battle to tackle climate change. At home, Trump – a climate-change sceptic – has promised to encourage the production of fossil fuels and rein in Biden’s green economy spending. Internationally, he has said he would withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement, as he did briefly during his first term in office. He is reportedly also considering trying to quit the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the treaty that establishes the basic architecture for countries to work together to address climate change. And he may cut the US’s climate finance contributions to developing countries. Climate Home has compiled reactions from climate experts in the US and beyond on the implications of a Trump victory for global climate policy and climate action in the United States: Todd Stern, former US climate envoy Speaking before the election, Todd Stern – who was former President Barack Obama’s chief climate negotiator, including on the Paris Agreement – said that if Trump blocks efforts to cut his country’s CO2 emissions, it “will be very disappointing – to put it mildly”. But, he added, “the machine is moving – the wheels that are spinning in all elements of clean technology are not going to stop”. He said Trump would try to pull back Biden’s green spending through legislative mechanisms like the Inflation Reduction Act. But “in many cases, they won’t be able to do that”, Stern added, because a lot of the spending has been in states with Republican Congressmen and Governors who are “not going to want those things to be undermined because of jobs and employment”. Gina McCarthy, former US presidential climate adviser and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Echoing Stern, McCarthy said “the shift to clean energy is unstoppable and our country is not turning back”. She added that the EPA and all public servants “stand ready to do their jobs, follow the science, and protect the rule of law”. “We all must stand ready to hold this administration accountable to do its job of protecting our people and our environment,” she added. “Bloomberg’s America Is All In [a coalition of local leaders supporting climate action] will work with cities, states and the private sector to do everything in its power to stop this administration from unwinding the progress we’ve made on climate,” she said. Simon Stiell, head of the UNFCCC Speaking in the Azerbaijani city of Baku today, which will host COP29 next week, the Grenadian diplomat said that “the fundamental facts remain unchanged”. He said “global heating is already hammering every nation” and “those investing in clean energy are already enjoying huge wins in terms of jobs and wealth, and cheaper, more secure energy.” He warned: “Unless all countries can cut emissions and build more resilience into global supply chains, no economy – including the G20 – will survive unchecked global heating, and no household will be spared its severe inflationary impacts.” Avantika Goswami, climate lead at the Centre for Science and Environment The Delhi-based campaigner said that financing is one of the biggest enablers of decarbonisation. “Not only do we need bilateral aid – which a Trump Presidency is likely to gut – but the US also controls the global financial system largely and uses the hegemony of the dollar to assert its power.” “Another Trump term”, she said, “no doubts make the much-needed reform of the global financial architecture all the more tricky.” The Biden administration pursued green reform of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. She said that other developed countries and emerging economies should “lead the way to ramp up decarbonisation, because we know how high the costs of inaction are”.