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President-elect Trump vowed to promote fossil fuels, weaken pollution regulations and reverse Biden administration climate efforts.
President-elect Donald Trump won a second term Wednesday morning after promising to unleash fossil fuel development, slash pollution regulations and dismantle President Joe Biden’s climate agenda.
Climate change was dwarfed by issues like the cost of living, immigration and the future of democracy during the campaign. But Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris immediately cast doubt over the future of U.S. climate measures and raised questions about the country’s commitment to cutting planet-warming pollution.
“This is obviously a difficult result to stomach for those of us who care about our democracy as well as healthy communities and a safe and livable planet for our children,” said Sam Ricketts, a prominent climate hawk and former aide to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D). “There’s no sugar-coating it: This is a gut punch.”
The stakes for the planet could hardly be higher. Scientists have warned that 2024 is almost certain to become the hottest year on record. Global ocean temperatures broke records for much of this year, helping fuel a devastating Atlantic hurricane season. Climate disasters have wreaked havoc worldwide in 2024, an indicator of the growing consequences of steadily rising temperatures.
A recent United Nations report warned that global climate action is moving too slowly — and that if world leaders don’t immediately and dramatically step up their efforts, there is “virtually no chance” of meeting the international target to limit temperature increases.
Trump, meanwhile, has pledged to once again pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, a nonbinding pact to slash emissions that are driving up temperatures. His victory comes as international climate negotiators prepare to meet next week in Azerbaijan, where countries will hash out a new target for climate aid that some developing nations say should exceed $1 trillion annually.
Without U.S. contributions, other countries will be reluctant to step up funding, making deeper emissions cuts harder to achieve, diplomatic analysts say.
But Trump has often rejected the presence of climate change, or shrugged off its damaging effects on people and the environment.
“America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” Trump said in a victory speech early Wednesday morning, vowing to increase the production of oil, which he called “liquid gold…”
