Trump's comeback must not undermine global climate action

This weeks' re-election of Donald Trump has raised significant concerns among climate justice advocates, scientists, and policymakers regarding the future of the global fight against climate change. For the past three decades, the world has struggled to unite as it did in 2015 when the Paris Agreement was signed. Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement in June 2017, which officially took effect in November 2020, signaled a troubling shift away from the global consensus on the urgent need to address human-driven climate change. This decision came at a time when the scientific community had largely reached an agreement on the threat of climate change, its human-made causes, and the necessity for swift, coordinated action. This was not the first instance of the United States stepping back from a global effort to combat climate change. Notably, Joe Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement on his first day in office in January 2021.

In the 1980s, a heightened awareness of climate risks prompted the global community to acknowledge the reality of anthropogenic climate change, primarily fueled by unchecked greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels. In response, major oil companies initiated misinformation campaigns to downplay scientific evidence, asserting that the warnings were exaggerated and economically detrimental. Decades later, it came to light that these companies had been aware of the risks associated with fossil fuel-driven climate change as early as the late 1960s but chose to prioritise profits over environmental safety. Records from the American Petroleum Institute in 1968, as well as findings from Exxon in the late 1970s and 1980s, indicated this knowledge, yet the company established the Global Climate Coalition to cast doubt on the scientific basis of concerns regarding fossil fuel emissions.