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| Welcome to the coalface, circa 2016 in TrumpWorld. |
As a lover of conspiracy theories, Donald Trump famously said that climate change is a
hoax perpetuated by the Chinese (nevermind that they're now the world's largest carbon emitters, but hey, what's logic gotta do with it?) What are the consequences of this belief? Initially, Trump may withdraw the United States' participation in the Paris Agreement. Oddly enough, the Chinese--once the most obstructive of countries on dealing with the issue--are now
cautioning Trump on junking the agreement at the ongoing UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in Morocco:
In a sign of how far the world has shifted in recognising the need to tackle global warming, Beijing — once seen as an obstructive force in UN climate talks — is now leading the push for progress by responding to fears that Mr Trump would pull the US out of the landmark accord.
“It is global society’s will that all want to co-operate to combat climate change,” a senior Beijing negotiator said in Marrakesh on Friday, at the first round of UN talks since the Paris deal was sealed last December. The Chinese negotiators added that “any movement by the new US government” would not affect their transition towards becoming a greener economy.
At stake is a lot of funding for developing countries to deal with the problem. Namely, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) meant to provide
$100 billion from developed to developing countries to deal with it:
Without extra money, they say they won't be able to do so much. Trump, who has called man-made climate change a hoax, wants to cancel the Paris Agreement and halt any U.S. taxpayer funds for U.N. global warming programs.
If he follows through, that will threaten a collective pledge by rich nations in Paris to raise climate finance from both public and private sources from a combined $100 billion a year promised for 2020.
Since Trump's win, nations from China to Saudi Arabia have reaffirmed their support for the Paris Agreement's goal of eliminating net greenhouse gas emissions sometime from 2050 to 2100.
But there is widespread unease about finance at the Nov. 7-18 talks on climate change among almost 200 nations being held in Marrakesh, Morocco.
It is arguably that the rest of the world has so little say in US elections when what happens there has such major consequences for everyone else--including the fate of the planet. It's back to the situation while Bush Jr. was in office: America is likely to become the world's worst
environmental rogue regime again.
