Democrats land at climate talks with a message: Don’t panic
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A woman showing an illustration of US President-elect Donald Trump, during a protest against the UN climate conference in Baku, in London on Nov 16.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BAKU – The Australians were giving away fresh coffee on the afternoon of Nov 16. The Singaporean pavilion had free beer. The American delegation was mostly offering assurances that all hope was not lost.
The election of Donald Trump has cast a pall over the UN climate negotiations in Azerbaijan, putting US representatives, most of them Democrats, in an awkward position.
With less than 70 days until Trump is inaugurated for a second time, a collection of Democratic officials was pledging that the US would continue working to limit global warming. This came even as he has threatened to pull the country out of the Paris climate accord
His early Cabinet picks suggest that he is preparing to act on some of his most extreme promises to remake American environmental policy.
Trump has tapped Governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota, who has deep ties to the oil industry, to run the Interior Department. Mr Lee Zeldin, a former US House member and a loyal supporter, is in line to lead a far-reaching overhaul of the Environmental Protection Agency.
But to hear the Democrats in Baku, Azerbaijan, tell it, these abrupt swings in policy will not stop the US from embracing clean energy.
“Just like climate change won’t be solved by any one president, climate action won’t be stopped by any one president,” Democratic Senator of Massachusetts Edward Markey said on Nov 15.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the Paris Agreement had endured a US pullout before. Trump withdrew the country from the accord during his first term in office, only to see Mr Joe Biden rejoin.
She noted that after the Trump administration pulled out of the agreement in 2017, many states and cities increased their support for climate policies while technologies like solar and wind continued to expand.
“While the leadership of the country on energy and policy may be changing, what’s happening on the ground and what’s happening in the private sector will mean that the United States will continue to push energy policy,” Ms Granholm said.
“The private sector is all-in, and so are many states across the country.” NYTIMES
