Report
Climate experts react optimistically to Trump’s victory, which threatens the Paris Agreement
‘President Trump will not be above the laws of physics and nor will the country that he leads. If Trump follows through with his threat to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, the biggest loser will be the United States.’
“To be clear: the US election result is a blow in the fight against the climate crisis. The window to limit warming to 1.5°C is closing—these next 4 years are critical. But let’s not despair. The Paris Agreement has proven resilient, stronger than any one country’s policies,” wrote economist Laurence Toubiana on X, a negotiator of the Paris Agreement in 2015, which Donald Trump opposed as soon as he was elected and withdrew the U.S. from in 2017.
On the eve of the COP29 U.N. climate conference in Baku, Toubiana’s view, along with those of other experts and policymakers, was collected by Unclimatesummit.org, a website run by Periodistas por el Planeta and ClimaInfo. Also on X, America Is All In, the U.S. Climate Alliance and Climate Mayors, three major U.S. climate action coalitions (involving states, local governments, Native communities, etc.), announced with one voice: “We will not waver. We will not turn back.”
Mary Robinson, former Chair of the Elders (an organization founded by Nelson Mandela) and former Irish Prime Minister, expressed her hope that “that the recent hurricanes in the United States have caused President Trump to rethink his belief that climate change will create ‘more oceanfront properties.’ It will only bring more death and devastation.”
Christiana Figueres, who led the UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) from 2010 to 2016, believes that the election result “cannot and will not halt the changes underway to decarbonize the economy and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. Standing with oil and gas is the same as falling behind in a fast moving world … The vital work happening in communities everywhere to regenerate our planet and societies will continue, imbued with a new, even more determined spirit today.”
Yao Zhe, global policy adviser for Greenpeace East Asia, recalled that the climate issue had played a role in stabilizing U.S.-China relations during Joe Biden's administration, and regardless of Trump’s election, “US-China climate cooperation will continue at the subnational level and among non-state actors.”
Raila Odinga, former prime minister of Kenya and candidate for chair of the African Union Commission, wanted to strike an optimistic note: “Actions of the United States on climate change at home and globally will shape how Africa, a continent that is least responsible for the climate crisis yet suffering most from climate impacts, will navigate its own development path … Climate negotiations at COP29 in Baku, coming on the back of US elections, is a perfect opportunity for the US to step up and be a global steward of the planet [and support] climate finance to the trillions of dollars required to meet the adaptation and mitigation needs of developing countries and compensate for losses of damages in a timely and transparent manner.” Similar hopes were expressed by Joyce Banda, former President of Malawi.
“There is no room for climate denialism in the context of the climate emergency. American society is co-responsible for global warming and, despite Trump’s victory, will undoubtedly be co-responsible for the solutions to the climate crisis,” said Izabella Teixeira, former environment minister of Brazil.
According to young Filipino climate activist Mitzi Jonelle Tan, “we must not allow global climate cooperation to be undermined by any single leader or country” (although the truth is that the U.S. is not the only one).
Bill Hare, climate scientist and former author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said that even if Trump is a climate denier, “President Trump will not be above the laws of physics and nor will the country that he leads. If Trump follows through with his threat to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, the biggest loser will be the United States.”
Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, co-chair of C40 Cities (a group of 96 local municipalities from around the world), reiterated the commitment of mayors and local leaders in the U.S. and around the world to “creating green jobs and economic growth in sustainable industries, protecting our communities from extreme weather, and addressing environmental justice and equity.”
Jennifer Morgan, State Secretary and Special Envoy for International Climate Action for Germany, struck a diplomatic tone: “We will work with the next US administration wherever possible to strengthen the international rules based order and deal with shared security challenges, including the climate crisis.” She went on to stress that for Germany and the EU, “the transition to climate neutrality is a cornerstone of our future competitiveness” – which might be a message intended for an audience of one.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/gli-esperti-non-si-puo-tornare-indietro-dopo-il-voto-la-paura-corre-sul-clima on 2024-11-08