Environmentalists from different parts of the world have reacted to Donald Trump’s reelection into the White House last Wednesday, describing it as a setback to global climate action.
Trump is yet to take office and therefore his government is yet to issue any policy statement regarding its approach to climate change issues. Reactions are based on his previous stance towards climate change, renewing fear among environmentalists about America’s commitment to climate action and its leadership role.
Professor Daniel Gwary, Director of Arid Zone Studies, University of Maiduguri, said: “Mr Donald Trump’s victory at the November 2024 US polls to return to the White House and to replace the Democrat Biden as the US president is being received with mixed feelings at the UNFCCC headquarters and among climate change activists. Analysts believe that Mr Trump is likely to revise the US climate law and strike a cautious balance of staying with some commitment to reduce carbon emissions but not accepting his country to take the expected leadership of driving climate action. The European Union and China will have to drive the tricycle without the US under the Trump administration.
Jeff Ordower, 350.org North America Director, said: “Achieving success in global climate politics necessitates having an engaged United States willing to own its share of the responsibility. The next Trump administration will be isolationist and dangerous to climate. But in that darkness, there is some hope that in diminished US power, other nations can step up, and states like California can follow.
“We will be fighting to ensure that Trump’s election creates a more resilient climate justice movement, one that realises we cannot separate decarbonisation, migrant rights, human rights, and demilitarisation. Working together on climate change is in everyone’s best interest. The energy transition in the US will proceed, with or without Trumpʼs support.”
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The group emphasised that Trump isn’t in office yet and Joe Biden can increase U.S. climate ambition and finance at COP29.
Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), said: “It will be a sad day if Trump again pulls away from climate negotiations as he did during his first coming. His campaign promises to ‘drill baby drill’ will also compound the climate crisis, seeing that existing oil reserves are unburnable if the world hopes to avoid catastrophic global burning. His victory will already damper whatever hopes some may have had on COP29, delivering any serious signals that the widening emissions and financial gaps would be narrowed.”
Raila Odinga, former PM of Kenya and candidate for chair of the Africa Union Commission: “Actions of the United States on climate change at home and globally will shape how Africa, a continent that is least responsible for the climate crisis yet suffering most from climate impacts, will navigate its development path, deliver energy access to over 600 million people who are without electricity access today.”
Dr Oulie Keita, Executive Director, Greenpeace Africa, said: “The results of the U.S. election should serve as a poignant reminder to the incoming Trump administration that the world is facing a climate emergency that necessitates immediate action from all nations. African communities expect the Trump administration to uphold the global climate finance commitments as outlined in the Paris Agreement.”
“Climate negotiations at COP29 in Baku, coming on the back of US elections, is a opportunity for the US to step up and be a global steward of the planet. At COP29, the US must lead from the front and support the delivery of ambitious grants-based and highly concessional climate finance to the trillions of dollars required to meet the adaptation and mitigation needs of developing countries and compensate for losses of damages in a timely and transparent manner.”
