Trump denies climate change digging more coal and Musk is hypocritical and unethically complicit in China’s free speech censorship. Both grab the money and run in self interest.
Image: CC0 public domain
While USA President elect, Donald Trump calls a spade a spade in digging up more coal – Elon Musk, has Trump’s ear – not literally …(maybe…), as his big campaign investor and a president-in-the-wings hopeful, investing his life into Tesler zero carbon autos and missions to mars in the event our planet is no longer habitable. However, Musk, is rather selective in his X free-speech advocacy – choosing silence, over Tesler profits, in China. Unethically complicit in censorship when it suits?
Under Trump, U.S. domestic policies favor fossil fuels, which will contribute to higher global greenhouse gas emissions. Countries in the region who are committed to mitigating climate change effects and transition to cleaner energy, will be threatened.
Trump announced his intention to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 Paris climate agreement at the beginning of his second term. Additionally, his policy advisers have suggested the possibility of exiting the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1992.
Countries dependent on U.S. trade and investment have faced economic instability due to less ambitious climate policies affecting their ability to invest in green technologies and sustainable practices. For Asia and the Pacific countries that rely on international aid and cooperation for climate adaptation and mitigation – “climate reparations,” “loss and damage,” or “climate justice”- created additional hurdles.
According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), if global greenhouse gas emissions are not drastically reduced, we could face a catastrophic temperature rise of 3.1°C. This would far exceed the Paris Agreement’s target of keeping temperature increases well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.
A Positive Reflection from Prof Mark Maslin, Professor of Climatology at UCL, said:
“Donald Trump has won a historic second term as US President and this will have a profound impact on the domestic and international climate change agenda. Pulling out one of the world superpowers from COP negotiations to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions is a big deal – as it allows other countries to slow their own decarbonisation and blame the US instead of their own lack of ambition.
“Domestically Trump is a vocal supporter of coal, but coal use decline during his first Presidency due to the switch to gas and renewable energy. This has continued under President Biden and will continue into the future due to simple economics. This reflects global trends moving away from coal to natural gas and renewable energy”.
“The other major trend that Trump has little influence on is the growth in the global green economy which is worth over $10 trillion annually which is 10% of the world’s GDP. In the US there are at least 10 million jobs in the green economy compared with 300,000 in the fossil fuel industry. Hence, if you want to grow your economy and make jobs, then investment in the green economy will be essential”.
The Renew Economy also posted a positive synopsis of “10 reasons why Donald Trump can’t derail global climate action”. Well worth the read – of Hope. HERE+
