The US climate envoy said that work would continue despite Trump’s return

John Podesta, U.S. Climate Envoy, urged governments on Monday to believe in the promise of the United States to combat global climate change. He said Donald Trump could slow down, but not stop the transition away from fossil fuels, when he returns to the White House in January.

The annual U.N. Climate Summit began Monday in Baku in Azerbaijan. Many country delegations were concerned that Trump's win in the U.S. Presidential election on November 5 would hamper progress in limiting planetary warming.

Trump has pledged to remove the United States from international climate agreements, as the world's largest historic emitter of greenhouse gases, and maximize the country's record-high fossil energy production.

Podesta, who spoke at the summit, said that the outcome of the United States' climate summit last week was "obviously bitterly disappointing" for those of us committed to climate action.

But what I would like to say today is that despite the fact that Donald Trump's federal government may have put climate action to the backburner, work will continue to be done in the United States to combat climate change.

He said that the Inflation Reduction Act, President Joe Biden’s landmark climate law providing billions in subsidies for clean energies, would continue driving investments in solar, winds and other technologies. U.S. State governments will also push emission reductions through regulation.

I don't believe that anything is reversible. Can it be slowed? Maybe. "But the direction is very clear", he said.

Trump may have promised to rescind IRAs, but to do so requires an act by Congress - which could be elusive because some Republican legislators whose districts are benefited from IRA-linked investment.

Agenda Wrangling

The talks in Baku compete for attention not only with the U.S. elections, but also the economic issues and the wars in Ukraine or Gaza.

This complicates the summit’s ambition to solve the priority agenda item, a deal to provide up to one trillion dollars in climate finance annually for developing countries.

Simon Stiell, the U.N.'s climate chief, sought to create momentum.

He said, "Let us get rid of the notion that climate finance is a charity" at the Baku Stadium. "A new ambitious climate finance goal is in the best interest of all nations, even the richest and largest."

This year will be the hottest ever recorded. Extreme weather events have affected both rich and poor countries. These include flooding disasters across Africa, the coast of Spain, the U.S. State of North Carolina and South America.

Even if you can agree on one of the first tasks for COP29, it's a challenge. The agenda was delayed more than 5 hours before approval.

Sources who asked to remain anonymous and had knowledge of the discussions in closed doors said that the European Union, small island nations, and the United States demanded that the nations discuss the ways to continue the transition from fossil fuels made last year.

Sources said that the fossil fuel producing Gulf states wanted discussions to be limited to elements of the COP28 agreement last year relating to finance.

The countries decided to discuss the COP28 accord, but did not specify the focus of the talks.

The U.N. has endorsed a set quality standards for carbon credits that are seen as crucial to the launch of a global carbon market that will fund projects to reduce greenhouse gas emission.

After China asked for the inclusion of concerns over some countries' policies in trade on the COP29 Agenda, countries avoided a spat about trade tensions. Beijing retracted its proposal and settled for informal discussions on the matter with Azerbaijan’s COP29 Presidency.

China is now more concerned about trade, as it faces EU tariffs and Trump's promise to impose tariffs of 20% on all goods imported from abroad, and 60% on Chinese products.

Some also fear that the U.S.'s disengagement will lead to other countries reversing their climate commitments or reducing future ambitions.

People will say, "Well, the U.S. emits the second most." It is the largest economy in the entire world. Why would we do so if they didn't? Marc Vanheukelen is the EU's Climate Ambassador from 2019 to 2023.

Podesta stated that China, the largest emitter in the world, is under an obligation to take action, including by developing a plan for cutting emissions, which is aligned to the 2015 Paris Agreement Goal to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels.

"They have a role to play, and I hope that they do it," Podesta stated.

Azerbaijan, the host country, has encouraged governments to move faster to cleaner energy and has promoted gas as a fuel for transition. In 2023, its oil and gas revenue accounted for only 35% of the economy. This is down from 50% just two years ago. These revenues are expected to drop by 22% in 2028, according to the government.

Ilham Aliyev called Azerbaijan’s fossil fuel bounty "a gift from God." Baku proposed creating a Climate Finance Action Fund that would collect up to $1 billion in voluntary contributions from extractive companies throughout 10 countries, including Azerbaijan. (Additional reporting provided by Gloria Dickie and William James; Editing by Barbara Lewis, Margueritachoy, and Rosalba o'Brien).

(source: Reuters)