New Writing: While the world waits with bated breath for the incoming US President to take office, SustMeme Editor Jim McClelland asks the question: Is the green agenda dead, once the White House turns red?
Donald Trump is a climate denier. He tilts at windmills and throws shade on solar. He spells trouble for ESG. In truth, the only greens he cares about are on the golf course.
Hard to hear, but he is also a winner. Not only has the White House gone Republican red, so have the Senate and House of Representatives. Bets on a Trump trifecta paid out, big.
In the States, then, the green agenda looks dead, politically, at least in principle for the next four years. In practice, however, what will Trump 2.0 really mean for the wider world?
Turmoil, tariffs, and Truth Social
Well, ahead of the official inauguration on January 20, policymakers around the globe are for the most part minding their Ps and Qs. Financial markets, on the other hand, appear to have got the pre-Trump jitters.
It is important, however, to keep things in context.
Almost half the world went to the polls in 2024, with elections in more than 70 countries. Administrations rolled over in rapid succession — Trump was not the only wild card.
Compare the line-up of G7 leaders today, with the one that met in Italy as recently as last June. Four premiers from 2024— Rishi Sunak (UK), Fumio Kishida (Japan), Justin Trudeau (Canada) and, of course, Joe Biden (US) — have already gone, or are going.
In Germany, having lost a confidence vote in December, Olaf Scholz has been forced to call a snap election. Near neighbours in France saw no fewer than four different Prime Ministers come and go in 2024 alone, leaving President Emmanuel Macron hanging on by his fingertips.
Only Giorgia Meloni over in Italy still sits comfortably in the hot seat.
The last 12 months already served up a cocktail of geopolitical turmoil, even before the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, long tail of Covid and a dash of Brexit are added to the mix.
Talk of universal tariffs, plus a slew of provocations posted on the Truth Social platform by the President-elect are only fuelling fears and fires, pouring gasoline on a burning deck.
However, much of this is just talk, as yet. Savvy commentators have counselled that the smart tactic at this stage is to take Trump seriously, for sure, just not literally.
Winning, windmills and whales
Almost nothing is guaranteed with Trump…except perhaps when it comes to renewables.
He has likened turbines — or “windmills” as he calls them — to “litter” strewn across the landscape, labelling them “garbage”. He is proposing a moratorium on new-build onshore.
Arguing that wind power is “the most expensive energy ever”, he has even gone so far as to suggest that offshore installations may harm marine life and drive whales “crazy”.
Despite the US being the primary focus, his comments nevertheless had an immediate negative impact on the share price of leading players in wind energy worldwide, including Vestas and Ørsted in Denmark.
Grassroots green: Think global, act local
So, where does all this leave the global green movement?
Well, Trump is no team player — so collective action of almost any kind will lose favour.
Therefore, calls to back a unified approach to a renewables-driven one-world climate agenda, as championed at the COP summits, seem especially doomed to go unheeded.
That said, not everything happens at the macro, international, or even national level.
Ultimately, therefore, to discover what useful lesson might be learned from the time of the original Trump administration, check out the full-length article, available to read for free on The Hub:
Where does green go under Trump 2.0?
To view a back-catalogue of articles authored by Jim McClelland for ‘The Hub’, please see archive here.
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