US: These are some of the concerns that are likely to be ignored with Donald Trump returning to the US presidency. His arrival will throw a cloud of neglect on environmental problems that have already been sidelined in the face of global security considerations. Climate change is an emergency that threatens the very existence of the Earth. It is to be assumed that global movements will be derailed one by one due to a change of power in the US. If Trump’s election promises become government policies, the decades-long fight against deforestation, resource depletion and petroleum fuels could be in vain.
It is a cruel irony that Trump’s victory was announced in the US just as the world’s largest climate summit, COP 24, was about to begin in Baku, Azerbaijan! The COP is the most important international forum where global climate finance is discussed. Developing countries like India have been demanding for years that a large part of the funds received to tackle climate change should be taken from developed countries including the US, which are the main causes of climate change.
As far as Trump is concerned, raising funds for climate change is against the interests of the US! The leader who did not even hesitate to publicly announce his withdrawal from the Paris Agreement to control global warming! In such a situation, the economic burden falls on those poor countries where there is no industrial progress. Most of the poor will be responsible for paying the price of the actions of some industrial countries that are the main causes of climate change. At the climate summit held in Dubai last year, the countries of the world announced their readiness to switch from petroleum to green fuel. This was also considered an important step to tackle climate change. Even oil-rich Gulf countries are investing more in alternative energy sources including solar energy.
However, a reversal in these policies should be expected after Trump, a supporter of petroleum fuel, once again comes to the White House. The US is the world’s largest petroleum producer. Most of the carbon emissions in the world take place here. So it is a serious risk to have as President of the US a leader who constantly dismisses the threat of carbon emissions. With Trump standing as the spokesperson for the oil production sector, the message to the world is worrying: petroleum production in the US will increase to such a level that even the small steps of the world to switch to non-conventional energy sources will falter!
There is no hope that Trump, who faced the election with the slogan “We will dig, we will dig again”, will relent in that matter. His declared policy is to increase domestic fuel production, i.e. petroleum production. Trump says this will reduce the cost of fuel. He has no hesitation in calling petroleum ‘liquid gold’. The US has been increasing fossil fuel and shale oil production since 2010. Trump’s policy is to increase it many times over. This could lead to a dangerous increase in the distance to global environmental goals. And, by deviating from the goal of clean energy, it will reaffirm the position of fossil fuels as the world’s primary energy source.
The oil and gas industry welcoming Trump is a sign of many things. They hope that Trump will put an end to all the green policies formulated by the Joe Biden administration based on ‘inflated figures’. They firmly believe that green subsidies, which are a ‘waste of taxpayers’ money’, will be withdrawn. The country’s industrial world ‘hopes’ that Trump will be able to increase America’s fuel efficiency. They say that Trump will protect the ‘fundamental right’ of Americans to choose which fuel they buy – a special agenda that prioritizes personal interests over environmental concerns!
Things are not looking good. Trump, with his ‘one room two’ style of cutting, has made his policy clear many times without hesitation. With the future President of America having a red card for green policies, the future of all environmental action is in danger. Petroleum is the fuel that is fulfilling Trump’s goal of ‘putting America first again’. The clouds of smoke are part of a sin against nature, and have the potential to swallow up any remaining greenery of hope.
