The annual United Nations talks on how to limit global warming last two weeks, but success is a big question mark after Donald Trump triumphs in the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday.
Among many others the Seychelles Minister of Tourism and Aviation Alain St.Ange is attending the ongoing conference in Morocco and among those concerned ministers
Trump has questioned the science of climate change, vowed to pull out of the landmark Paris agreement and pledged to stimulate production of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel. Envoys gathering Monday for the talks in Marrakesh, Morocco, are unsettled by polls showing Trump is within striking distance of defeating the Democratic contender, Hillary Clinton.
The meeting is supposed to lead to a rulebook for nations to comply with the Paris climate accord signed last year. Instead, delegates drawn from energy and environment ministries are focused on the threat of Trump, whose victory would raise questions over the U.S. commitment to acting and throw into turmoil the UN effort.
“If Mr. Trump is elected president in the United States then all bets are off,” Robert N. Stavins, director of the Harvard University Environmental Economics Program, said in a phone interview prior to the election.
Businesses such as Monsanto Co., Nestle SA and BP Plc are looking to the talks to provide a signal from policy makers that the Paris agreement won’t unravel and limits on fossil fuel pollution will continue to get tighter for decades to come. The world may need $50 trillion)of investment in power networks and energy efficiency to rein in climate-damaging emissions, according to the International Energy Agency.
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