Donald Trump’s position is utterly delusional.
He has never accepted the reality of climate science or seen the opportunities of an economic transition away from fossil fuels.
Trump has a less than tenuous relationship with the truth on a whole host of issues, but on climate change and energy, he has flown directly in the face of the facts for many years.
But I would say his immediate position doesn’t change an awful lot.
The global leadership coming from the United States is not from the federal government, but from state and city governments.
They are willing to show the way and work together on carbon emissions and sustainable industries to create jobs for the long term in industries like renewable energy and sustainable building practices.
In terms of the global impact, China and the EU are committed to the Paris Agreement regardless and I think that will be the position most countries take, no matter what Trump does.
The Paris Agreement should be seen as a starting point, and it is deeply regrettable we are only talking about a starting point now, so many years after the scientific argument was made.
Most of the world’s governments are just as unwilling to face the reality as Trump and are refusing to acknowledge that most of the remaining fossil fuels must remain unburned if we’re to have a decent change of restraining climate change.
We cannot afford to burn these fossil fuels if we want our civilisation to survive.
We are living in a carbon bubble of astonishing proportions, for example with our pension funds invested in fossil fuels when we must move away from them.
However, the populist far right in Europe who, like UKIP, have flirted with climate change denial have not made progress.
They were beaten in France, beaten in the Netherlands and in Austria.
Brexit does still pose challenges in protecting the environmental achievements we have made and our whole future is at stake in that regard.
But there is a good opportunity for people working together in the UK to put pressure on the UK Government to recommit to climate action.
The picture across most other countries is Trump’s decision on this will leave him isolated.
If it takes a few years and a change of president for the United States to join the real world, that is a shame but it’s not the end for the Paris Agreement.
