Many important questions are being discussed since the surprise announcement of Donald Trump as the next U.S president, one of those being, the impact he will have on American renewable energy efforts?
During his campaign he had shown full support to the fossil fuel industry and described global warming as a ‘hoax created by and for the Chinese.’ His planned energy efforts would ‘unleash America’s $50 trillion in untapped shale, oil and natural gas reserves, plus hundreds of years in clean coal reserves.’
Not only this he had previously described the Paris Agreement as ‘bad for US business’ and stated he would cancel all payments made to UN global warming programmes.
Paris Agreement
The Paris Agreement was signed by almost 200 countries last year which pledged their efforts to decrease global greenhouse emissions. Since the agreement came into force on 4th November 2016, 103 nations have given their final approval. Two of those being, President Barack Obama and China’s President Xi Jinping, who have also encouraged other countries to follow suit.
‘This is not a fight that any one country, no matter how powerful, can take alone. Someday we may see this as the moment that we finally decided to save our planet.’ – President Barack Obama
Impact
Trumps presidential win has already seen a downfall in European renewable stocks, as well as stupendous outcry on social media as to what the future holds for America’s renewable energy investments.
Craig Bennett CEO of Friend of the Earth said:
‘We’ll always have Paris, which commits the rest of the international community to climate action. It is now more important than ever for individuals, communities, cities, regions and companies to lead the way in building a cleaner, safer future for us all.’
361 Degrees
Although this is a surprising time for the world, we believe that a positive attitude and continual energy efforts by countries all over the world will decrease our global carbon footprint. There has already been success in Europe, with countries like Finland and Sweden leading the way in renewable energy. We hope that not only the UK take note of these great examples but America does too. As the saying goes, ‘The proof is in the pudding’.
To read more about Europe’s renewable energy efforts, click here.
