International climate experts are concerned about the possibility of Donald Trump returning to the U.S. presidency, suggesting this may be a very important step backward for international climate efforts. As possibilities go, indications are coming that chances are pointing to his return to the White House, and the experts fear a reversal of the U.S. commitments to its domestic and international arena, particularly with his proposed rollback of the Inflation Reduction Act. This is critical legislation under the Biden administration, one that has the aim of reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, positioning this country as a world leader in climate. Trump’s record on climate is heartbreaking—from abandoning the Paris Agreement to embracing more growth in fossil fuels—and feeds into growing worries among policy analysts and environmental groups to treat such measures as a threat not only to U.S. climate targets but also to global targets.
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Under the Biden administration, the Inflation Reduction Act has been the iconic piece of the U.S.’s climate policy, with aims at decarbonization, renewable investments, and emissions cuts. But should Trump return to his office, experts said the IRA could be destroyed and rolled back, undoing years of climate progress and gutting what’s left of global momentum toward attaining crucial carbon reduction targets. In her opinion, Sunita Narain, director general of the Centre for Science and Environment at Delhi, views that this rollback of IRA would affect the US but at the same time send negative signals across the globe, especially because the US is one of the largest historical emitters of greenhouse gases.
Among some of its many catchphrases, it trumpeted expanded oil and gas production and, under its own catchy name, “drill, baby, drill,” opposed this overall international momentum in getting fossil fuel reduction on its course of action. Its response to climate issues was largely framed with disbelief by previous positions that named the threat an outright hoax and already intended to end US membership in the Paris Climate Deal. Narain writes that the position of Trump on climate finance and fossil fuel expansion will further aggravate the global climate crisis, with most vulnerable communities in developing countries contributing the least to the problem yet being most adversely affected by climate change.
The COP29 climate talks are fast approaching in Baku, and one of the key objectives is to achieve enhanced climate finance. Therefore, this new challenge by Trump has emerged. Experts believe his policies will undermine cooperation, make building consensus harder, and estrange the general public in a global system already under stress from inadequate action by the world’s richest nations. The United States is the world’s largest oil and gas producer and the second-largest annual emitter of greenhouse gases, so climate leadership comes with the landscape. According to Harjeet Singh, global engagement director for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, the policies of Trump have put at serious risk developing countries relying on climate finance and U.S. support.
Conclusion
This has added pressure on further calls from global players of other persuasions wanting more within their climate plans. At the same time, climate action need not even pause but wait for national political will. Writes Helen Clarkson, CEO of the Climate Group: “State, corporate, and regional-level action in the United States increasingly steps forward independently. Despite adverse moves now underway at federal climate levels, Clarkson presses all.
This would indeed be a climactic moment for the global climate movement in the hands of Trump’s possible leadership, following his promise to roll back policies such as the IRA and expand fossil fuel production, which could act as a devastating setback to global ambitions concerning climate and urgent concerns for climate change.
Source: PTI