COP29 Planners Running Scared Trump Will Get Elected and Upset the Applecart Filled with Trillions of Climate Cash

JoNova writes that the whole climate world is waiting on the U.S. election to see if Donald Trump comes back and upsets the climate applecart called COP29. She quotes from a fascinating article in The Japan Times that recounts the fears of the climate establishment. Here are the most revealing parts of the latter story:

The prospect of Donald Trump returning as president is hanging over crucial U.N.-sponsored climate negotiations, with countries "holding back" their positions until they know who sits in the White House.

Veteran observers of climate diplomacy say uncertainty over the election outcome is stalking this November's COP29 summit, which starts just six days after voters decide between Trump and Kamala Harris.

The election lands awkwardly as governments try to build global consensus in coming months not just around climate but stronger protections for the environment and a treaty to address plastic pollution.

As president, Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris agreement on global warming — Joe Biden later rejoined the accord — and there are concerns over what his re-election might mean for climate action…

"Everybody is holding back until they know who gets elected," said Mohamed Adow, a campaigner and head of research group Power Shift Africa.

This apparent wait-and-see approach has frustrated those seeking a new long-term commitment at COP29 from rich nations to pay the trillions of dollars needed for clean energy and climate adaptation in developing countries…

The months of lead-up sessions to COP29, which is being hosted this year in Azerbaijan, have been painfully slow even by the plodding standards of global climate diplomacy, participants say.

With just two months to go, there still isn't an agreed definition of "climate finance" let alone how much should be paid, which countries should receive it and how, and who should be on the hook for it…

"Governments are holding back, and they're trying to hedge their bets. Many of them don't have a strong enough motive to move," said Tom Evans, policy advisor at E3G, a think tank.

The U.S. election was "hanging over everyone, and it's hard to look past that sometimes."

..But the EU's reluctance to talk numbers could be partly explained by anxiety over the U.S. election, said Linda Kalcher, executive director of Strategic Perspectives, a European think tank.

Some developing countries are demanding north of $1 trillion annually, a 10-fold increase on existing pledges.

If elected, Trump could slash funding for the climate and Ukraine, leaving the EU — which saw swings to the right in elections this year — footing the bill…

Political leaders would be more pressed than usual at COP29 to make up for lost time, said Li Shuo, a Washington-based expert on climate diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute.

He told reporters any progress until then would be incremental, at best.

"The real decisions... will only start to emerge after the U.S. election."

Notice how the entire story is largely about the money involved. Climate corporatists want U.S. taxpayers to throw trillions at climate schemes in Third World countries, half each of which will go to the corporatists and the local crooks in each nation seeking foreign aid to go into their own pockets. Trillions are on the line. Only Trump stands in the way and that's why they hate him.

#COP29 #Trump #Election #Climate #Corporatists