Trump, COP29 and the future of climate finance
COP29, the United Nations’ annual climate summit, is underway in Azerbaijan. This year’s conference is all about how the world will pay to deal with climate change. But Donald Trump’s election victory looms large over the talks.
President-elect Trump could roll back United States climate policy like he did during his first term. But Gautam Jain, senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, said the markets may move in another direction.
“President Trump repealed a lot of laws related to this, for example, the Clean Power Plan. But even then, we saw a lot of investments happening in utility-scale solar and onshore wind because they became more cost-effective,” said Jain.
On the show today, Jain walks us through the big debates at this year’s climate summit: how much more investment is needed to help developing countries address climate change, which countries should pay up and how the United States’ role in the clean energy transition could shift under a second Trump administration.
Plus, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods has urged President-elect Trump to avoid causing too much turbulence in the country’s energy policy. Our hosts break down why Exxon is trying to have it both ways.
Later, one listener’s new open-door policy and another’s defense of early Christmas lights. Plus, a Dodgers bar owner was wrong about bringing a bit of Los Angeles to New York City.
Here’s everything we talked about today:
- “What Trump can do to reverse US climate policy − and what he probably can’t change” from The Conversation
- “COP29: What are the key issues at the UN climate summit in Baku?” from Reuters
- “Trump Victory Leaves China Calling the Shots at COP29 Climate Negotiations” from The Wall Street Journal
- “Burning Questions: What are the climate wins and setbacks from the election?” from Marketplace
- “Exxon chief urges stability in US climate policy, knocks carbon border tariffs” from Politico
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