Delegates to the COP22 Climate Conference being held in Morocco this week have President-elect Trump at the top of their agenda. They are questioning how a climate-denier as leader of the U.S. will shape the future of climate change policy.
Speaking at the conference on Wednesday, Zhenmin pointed out that if Mr. Trump looks at the history of climate change negotiations over the years leading up to the Paris Climate deal, he would see that Republican presidents were instrumental in launching negotiations.
“If you look at the history of climate change negotiations, actually it was initiated by the IPCC with the support of the Republicans during the Reagan and senior Bush administration during the late 1980s,” he said, according to Bloomberg.
The Chinese Vice Minister was referring to a 2012 tweet by Donald Trump where he said global warming was invented by the Chinese to undermine American manufacturers.
USA Today writes that during a January appearance on Fox and Friends, Trump claimed the 2012 tweet “was a joke,” after Bernie Sanders brought up the tweet, but he added, “this is done for the benefit of China because China does not do anything to help climate change.”
The Guardian says that Trump has dismissed global warming, tweeting: “Give me clean, beautiful and healthy air – not the same old climate change (global warming) bullshit! I am tired of hearing this nonsense,” on January 29, 2014. This was just one of a flurry of tweets he wrote that month when the U.S. was in an extreme weather event.
The Guardian is reporting that at the Marrakech conference, Secretary of State John Kerry told delegates this week that “the overwhelming majority of the citizens of the U.S.” know climate change is happening and are “determined to keep our commitments in Paris.”
The skepticism and fears being played out in the U.S. over President-elect Trump and his ideas, threats and promises have spilled over into the international community as is being seen at the climate conference. World leaders have worked for years to reach the Paris Accord agreement that went into effect this year.
There is the very real fear that Trump, when he takes office in January, will toss the agreement in the trash, and that would be catastrophic, not only for the U.S. but for the people of the world. Our country is looked up to as a leader by other countries, and it is hard to imagine what would happen globally if Mr. Trump turns his back on the Paris Climate deal.
