Donald Trump is to be the 45th president of the United States. It was an outcome to the election that not many people saw coming. Right up until Florida announced that it was voting for the Mr Trump, the bookies and many of the experts had still expected Hilary Clinton to win reasonably comfortably. Now, with Trump’s inauguration due to take place on Friday 20th January 2017, people around the world are interested to know what his presidency will bring.

One of his key messages throughout the campaign has always been that global warming is a hoax, started by the Chinese. During the campaign, he threatened to pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Change Accord and dismantle the Clean Power Plan put in place by the outgoing president.

We Don’t Have the Luxury of Remaining Silent

Concerns have only been increased by Mr Trump’s decision to pick Myron Ebell as the person to lead the transition of the Environmental Protection Agency. In 2007, Mr Ebell told Vanity Fair that “there has been a little bit of warming…but it’s been very modest and well within the range for natural variability, and whether it’s caused by human beings or not, its’s nothing to worry about”.

There are many people around the world who are ready to fight any attempt by the United States to withdraw from the agreement. Speaking to The Verge, Benjamin Santer, a member of the National Academy of Sciences said:

“We don’t have the luxury of remaining silent because decisions about whether the US is in or outside of Paris climate agreement may affect all of us – they literally affect the kind of world we’re going to leave behind for future generations.”

He Might Choose a Different View on Climate Change

Meanwhile others, including Carinne Le Quere from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia, suggest that Mr Trump may have a different outlook once he enters the White House and is reminded of the impact climate change already has on global economies:

“The election of Donald Trump as president of the USA could bring a new dimension to how we address climate change, if he chooses to. Donald Trump is a businessman. The biggest leap forward we could make to address climate change is to develop the business economy that will produce energy without carbon.

At Trump gets reminded of the damages that climate change is already making to the US economy, particularly through flooding and increasing damage in US coasts from the combination of sea level rise and hurricanes, he might choose a different view on climate change than he’s expressed in the past”

Only time will tell which direction Mr. Trump choose to take…