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When Donald Trump takes over the U.S. presidency
from Barack Obama he will face a world already
committed to climate change action, and his hostility to
science and action could cause diplomatic ripple effects. |
President-elect Donald Trump may dismiss the Paris
Agreement and pack his cabinet with climate deniers, but once he takes
office, he will face a world that takes the climate crisis as seriously as he
does not.
He will enter a complex web of diplomatic relations, where
issues like trade, finance, migration, security, poverty, food aid and disaster
relief are all intertwined and all have important links to the climate agenda.
It's a world already dealing with significant climate impacts and sold on
climate action.
"I am struck by the shift over the last few years in
how the global community puts climate change on its agenda," Jonathan
Pershing, President Obama's special envoy on climate, told InsideClimate News.
"It is now virtually everywhere."
Since the signing of the Paris Agreement a year ago,
addressing climate change has remained a major imperative for most of the
world's nations. Enough countries quickly ratified the accord so that it
entered into force early, in November. Shortly after Trump's surprising
election, delegates from virtually every country in the world gathered in
Marrakech to start putting the Paris treaty immediately into action.
