Trump’s comeback could slow global efforts to manage the climate crisis
The historic comeback by Donald Trump to the US Presidency, a country which is the world’s second largest source of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, after China, is a major potential setback for global efforts to combat climate change. Trump, whose climate scepticism is well known globally, adopted the mantra “drill baby drill,” while on the campaign trail. The implication is that he would remove any restrictions for drilling and use of fossil fuels in the US that have so far been justified on the basis of getting America to increase its share of renewable energy and, therefore, reduce emissions that are responsible for global warming. In effect, Trump was openly denying, as he has done in the past, the scientific evidence that the climate change being experienced today is the result of human activities. This despite indisputable proof by no other than the highly respected Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that most GHGs emission is as a result of use non-renewable fossil...