Trump's comeback makes green activists nervous: What happens next?

Recent US election results shake-up climate policy plans worldwide. Political shift in America brings new questions about green-energy transition methods and costs for regular people

November 10 2024 , 09:57 AM  •  744 views

Trump's comeback makes green activists nervous: What happens next?

The climate-policy world got shaken up this week with COP29 right around the corner (a long-awaited eco-meet-up) and Ed Milibandʼs power-sector plans under review. The governments so-called flexibility target needs to grow four times bigger by 2030 which looks like old-style rationing with a new-age name

Fossil fuels simply cannot provide us with the security‚ or indeed the affordability‚ we need

Ed Miliband stated recently

The UKʼs power-grid relies on gas for about 40% of its juice‚ but theres bigger news from across the pond. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris (top-tier green-policy fans) just lost to Donald Trump who doesnt like the Paris deal one bit. His win made eco-groups lose their cool: some called him the worlds strongest climate-policy enemy

The world feels a whole lot more terrifying this morning; [we] will try even harder to light candles rather than curse the darkness

Caroline Lucas wrote on social media

The whole thing hits different now because green-rules are starting to touch peoples daily life - not just behind-the-scenes stuff. The Institute for Fiscal Studies dropped a bomb last week: each home might need to pay 120 extra pounds for green-fees (thats gonna hurt). Plus the Climate Change Committee wants everyone to eat half as much meat and dairy by 2050

The real-world math isnt looking good either: UK factory power-costs are already twice as high as other big countries. Its making people think - maybe we dont need to live worse to fix climate stuff‚ and Trumps way of using tech and business smarts could work better than forcing everyone to cut back