Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump listens to a question during a visit to the Chez What furniture store that was damaged during Hurricane Helene on September 30, 2024 in Valdosta, Georgia.
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Donald Trump’s election victory on Wednesday sparked palpable frustration in the climate community, with two key architects of the landmark Paris Agreement warning the outcome would hamper global efforts to protect the environment.
According to NBC News, Trump will defeat Democratic rival Kamala Harris and return to the White House for a second four-year term.
It marks a historic and somewhat incredible comeback for one of the most polarizing figures in modern American politics.
The 78-year-old calls the climate crisis ‘One of the biggest scams,” committed ramp up fossil fuel production, slashing emissions curbs under outgoing President Joe Biden and once again pulling the country out of the Paris climate accord.
The 2015 Paris Agreement is an extremely important framework to reduce planetary heating Greenhouse gas emissions. Its goal is to “limit global warming in the long term to well below 2 degrees Celsius, preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared with pre-industrial levels.”
Lawrence Tubiana, a key architect of the Paris Agreement, said Trump’s election victory “is a setback for global climate action, but the Paris Agreement has proven to be resilient and more powerful than the policies of any single country.”
Tubiana, a French economist and diplomat who is now chief executive of the European Climate Foundation, said today’s situation is “very different” from Trump’s first election victory in 2016.
French economist Dr. Laurence Tubiana at the “G20 Event: International Taxation” at the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington, DC, USA on April 17, 2024 “New Challenge” event.
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“There are powerful economic forces behind the global transformation, and the United States led and benefited from it, but now risks being abandoned,” Tubiana said. “The devastating losses caused by recent hurricanes are a stark reminder that all Americans are affected by the worsening effects of climate change.
“Cities and states across America are taking bold action in response to citizen demands,” she added.
“Europe now has a responsibility and an opportunity to step up and lead. By working closely with other countries to promote a fair and balanced transition, it can show that ambitious climate action can protect people, strengthen economies and build resilience.”
“An antidote to doom and despair”
Separately, former United Nations climate chief Cristina Figueres, who oversaw the 2015 Paris summit, said the US election results would be seen as “a major blow to global climate action.”
However, Figueres said, “it cannot and will not halt the changes underway to decarbonize the economy and achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.”
“To maintain a foothold in oil and gas is to be left behind in a rapidly evolving world,” she continued, predicting that clean energy technologies will continue to triumph over fossil fuels in the coming years.
Earthshot Prize Chair Ms. Christiana Figueres speaks at the Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies in New York City on September 24, 2024.
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“Meanwhile, the important work of communities around the world to rebuild our planet and society will continue with a new and more determined spirit,” Figueres said.
“Coming to South Africa for the Earthshot Prize makes it clear that there is an antidote to doom and despair. This is action on the ground and it’s happening in every corner of the planet.”
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