The\u00a0top US\u00a0representative to COP29 defended his country\u2019s progress in cutting planet-warming carbon\u00a0emissions on Monday, insisting that much of it will endure despite President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s vow to retreat from the fight against global warming.<\/p>\n
Yet John Podesta, senior adviser to the president for international climate policy, also struck an apologetic tone at the start of the United Nations\u00a0COP29 summit in Azerbaijan. The\u00a0expected pullback by the world\u2019s second-largest greenhouse gas emitter, he acknowledged,\u00a0comes even \u201cas the dangers we face grow ever-more catastrophic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s return is\u00a0already complicating negotiations in Baku over how much to boost funding for developing nations to green their economies and adapt to climate change. The president-elect has vowed to again withdraw the US \u00a0from the\u00a0Paris Agreement and roll back federal regulations that are critical to meet the country\u2019s emissions-reduction\u00a0goals.\u00a0Even before his election, the US was viewed as an unreliable climate ally, having previously failed to ratify the landmark Kyoto Protocol\u00a0more than two decades ago and deliver on promised financial contributions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is clear the next administration will try to take a U-turn and reverse much of this progress,\u201d Podesta told reporters. \u201cI\u2019m keenly aware of the disappointment that the United States has at times caused the parties of the climate regime, who have moved through a pattern of strong, engaged, effective US leadership followed by sudden disengagement after US presidential election.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Negotiators representing the world\u2019s richest countries are working in Baku to drum up more climate finance beyond the existing $100 billion annual pledge that expires next year. They\u00a0now face the challenge of trying to land an ambitious commitment and offset any pullback in US funding, even as many developed nations face tight budget battles of their own.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Countries are also under pressure to advance ambitious plans to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 2035. The US will hardly be leading by example \u2014 the likely reversal of many climate policies under Trump means the nation is unlikely to fulfill even its own 2030 pledge.\u00a0<\/p>\n
US emissions will probably still continue to fall \u2014\u00a0propelled by\u00a0some popular policies that Trump is likely to leave alone, as well as action by states, local governments and businesses. Analysts also widely expect the US government to maintain some of the\u00a0Inflation Reduction Act subsidies that are luring investment to\u00a0decarbonization projects in areas represented by Republicans.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe\u00a0work to contain climate change is going to continue in the United States with commitment and passion and belief,\u201d Podesta said. \u201cThis is not the end of our fight for a cleaner, safer planet,\u201d he said, adding that\u00a0\u201cthe fight is bigger than one election, one political cycle and one country.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Trump announced he was withdrawing the US from the Paris Agreement in 2017, no other country followed suit. Former diplomats and COP veterans say it\u2019s unlikely nations would exit the accord this time either.<\/p>\n
\nHealth of Paris deal \u2018still quite good\u2019
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Jennifer Morgan, Germany\u2019s special envoy on climate, said that the health of the Paris Agreement was still \u201cquite good\u201d despite Trump\u2019s threat to leave the pact again. She pointed out that the Earth is predicted to warm less this century than it would have before the Paris deal was struck, even if projections still fall short of the key goal of keeping temperatures within 1.5C of pre-industrial levels.\u00a0\u201cThere are many questions regarding the US election,\u201d Morgan said in a press conference Monday.\u00a0\u201cAll my conversations are about how we move forward on implementing the Paris Agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n
At COP29,\u00a0\u00a0environmental activists were also seizing on Trump\u2019s victory to bolster calls for President Joe Biden to use his waning weeks in office to cement his climate legacy. They urged him to\u00a0reject\u00a0pending applications to widely export liquefied natural gas and move\u00a0against Energy Transfer LP\u2019s Dakota Access oil pipeline.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBiden needs to use the next two months to seal a climate legacy and put in a bulwark of protections against Trump,\u201d said Ben Goloff, who works with the Center for Biological Diversity.<\/p>\n
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com<\/a><\/p>\n