Climate Experts Concerned About Trump’s Re-election and Climate Mitigation

• Climate experts are concerned about the potential consequences of Donald Trump’s re-election, given the US’s exit from the Paris Climate Agreement in 2017.
• The Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global average temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius by the turn of the century, was viewed as a “bad deal” by Trump, causing issues with the coal industry and defense spending.
• The US rejoined the Agreement after Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 US Presidential elections.
• Climate experts express concern over the US’s commitment to carbon mitigation efforts, particularly the Trump campaign’s support for fracking and distrust of the scientific consensus on human-caused greenhouse gas warming.
• Despite past experiences, hope remains for the next Trump Presidency to support climate action and innovation.
• Arti Khosla, Director of Climate Trends, warns that Trump’s actions on climate policy and decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement may lead to a lack of progress on climate action and create more obstacles than solutions on contentious matters like trade.
• A key issue to be deliberated at the climate conference is agreeing to a New Collective Quantified Goal, a financial target that rich, developed countries must transfer to developing countries annually to mitigate and adapt against climate change.
• Some optimism is expressed about India’s potential benefits from green energy trade, stating that India and the U.S. will continue to be key strategic partners.