Trump Picks Scott Pruitt, Climate Change Denialist, to Lead E.P.A

Dr Luke Kemp talks today at the University
of Melbourne about Donald Trump.

The idea of “U.S.-proofing the Paris climate agreement” was discussed today at the University of Melbourne.

A lecturer in climate and environmental policy at both the Fenner School of Environment and Society and Crawford School of Public Policy, Dr Luke Kemp, articulated the idea.

He was the special guest at a session staged by the university’s Australian-German Climate and Energy College and about 50 people listened as he explored the implications of Donald Trump being named as the U.S president-elect.

Donald Trump is an outspoken climate change denier who has threatened that upon taking office he will see that America withdraws from the Paris agreement.

Dr. Kemp sees himself as a Donald Trump pessimist and although unwilling to make predictions about what the president-elect might do, he did suggest that  it was not only possible that America could withdraw from the Paris agreement, there is also the potential of it stepping away from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

He explained that under the rules of the Paris agreement, withdrawal could take up to four years, all of Mr. Trump’s first term in office.

Ideally, Dr. Kemp preferred to see the U.S. withdraw completely from the agreement as it would not longer be able to disrupt negotiations from the inside, but once outside the formal structure could find itself facing complex trade restrictions from trade groups still working within the agreement.

Read The New York Times story - “Trump Picks Scott Pruitt, Climate Change Denialist, to Lead E.P.A..”